'WE ARE THE ROBOTS'

As a warehouse operative, I took a lot of notice of a recent robot apocalypse article by Stephen Hawking,

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/stephen-hawking-capitalism-robots_5616c20ce4b0dbb8000d9f15

so the article predicts that the current trend of robots replacing manpower in many industries could facilitate a future whereby many low paid jobs will be done by robots, this would obviously be advantageous to the corporations as robots will just perform their preset functions, with no need for tea breaks or wages, or locker rooms or canteens or an HR department.  The use of robots instead of a human workforce will undoubtedly make production more efficient and business more profitable.

Arguably, I think the human race has been on this track for hundreds of years, historians will agree that in Western Europe this has been the case since the industrial revolution and now it seems we have reached a point where scientists have an insight into where it's all heading and it's this scenario of the future, that has the been the nightmare of science fiction, is fast being realized.  We now have cars that drive themselves, mail delivered by drones, big brother is watching us and who are we in all this? And what is our purpose?  As citizens we are locked onto a cycle of production and consumption that creates wealth for the few and leaves the rest of us bound to serve.

But this is not the point I'm trying to make, the thing that struck me about the article is that as a worker I often feel like a cog the industrial machine, and actually that's one of the things I really like about warehouse work, I love it that humans and machines work together to fill the boxes and get them to the waiting lorries at despatch, there's some beauty in that, human effort and machine power, evokes the image that has become iconic of the age of steam engines a sweaty man shoveling loads of coal to feed the furnace that fires the steam engine to power the big machine, there's beautiful steampunk imagery, and in my experience work, sweaty work with machines provides a meaningful existence.

I'm just a number on a payroll and that's good and comfortable and predictable, I like it that I can work like a machine, I don't want to break free and assert any individuality, I'm safe as a drone.  I don't matter, because we don't matter, if I don't turn up someone else will, my input can easily be replaced.  Some people might like to stand out and make a difference, be realized as an individual, but that's not for me, I just want to work and get paid.

And we all have lives, private lives, some people that pack books, play guitar, others tend gardens and some like me use choose the flexibility of a 1 day/week contract to travel, I don't partcilulary want to travel but I have a teenage son living in another country and so I do, I make my self unavailable for book packing and go elsewhere, I don't really know how to make the connection but what I want to say is that I like being annonymous, I like being a worker, a grunt in the machine, it's safe, big brother is watching me, so I put my head down and I work, I put a smile on my face and I pack books, I'm a low paid drone.  But that's fine, give me a uniform and I'll work my hours and then go home and rest, I'll clock in and clock out, and over a hot drink from the machine I'll be free to laugh and play with my co-workers at tea break, then we'll take off our uniforms for 10 mins a day so that we can work to the end of the shift.

As I've been saying, I'm happy to work like a drone, to be number on the payroll, why? Well that might be because the alternative is terryfying.  What if for some reason you stand out and the state wants to get you? What if you've alerted attention? What if you're on their radar? What if they're watching you?  What if you're being followed? What if you stand out?  What if you're on a list? What if you find yourself in a Kafkaesque nightmare, they want you?

And what do they think I've done? What is my crime against the State?

No,
I don't need to assert my individuality, give me my uniform and I'll work. Humans can be robots, Kraftwerk did it beautifully,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-R7t-ihoT4

love that track.

So, I have a message to you capitalist greedy pigs that Stephen Hawking (and he's smart so we should listen to what he has to say) mentions, you pigs that are planning to increase profits by using robots to do our work, listen you, back off and  let people and machines work together, yes, I know we need be paid, and robots are more efficient but I'm a human and I want to live in a society where humanity counts, so be accountable and pay for human labour, let your brothers and sisters do the grind, we like it, it makes us feel safe.