BROKEN PROMISES

Chicken or egg: Which came first – the extra workload or technology?

Are we dealing with a bunch of workaholic people who can now extend their workday into the home easily because of technology, or is it technology that has made it difficult to separate work from home life and get away?

Get a Job:

“The biggest impact of technology has been to allow us to do unproductive things at a far more impressive rate. In my day job at Pacific Bell, I can write a useless memo and e-mail it to dozens of people who are too busy writing their own memos to do anything about mine.

But in general, the new technology has vastly increased my job satisfaction. I can spend hours doing stuff like upgrading my RAM and it looks like actual work.”

- Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert, Dublin , California

Human wisdom:

“I do not feel human wisdom has much improved in the last 2,000 years.”

- Marvin Minsky, artificial intelligence pioneer

The productivity question:

If higher productivity per person results in fewer people drawing a salary, what’s the economic benefit?

And if the remaining workers are concentrated in highpressure, high-overtime jobs, what’s the intrinsic benefit?