Ian Betteridge: No. But unions could. — Subium • Bluesky web client

No. But unions could.

As I recall, computers were supposed to increase efficiency and shorten work hours and here I am now with the ability and expectation to be accessible 24/7 by my office.

Where does all this time we save go?

More work

Yep. I distrust saving space too. You wind up with apartments the size of closets that way.

Man, if only we had some statistical evidence from, say, the entire last century about what capital does with the benefits of increased productivity

If AI could lead to a four-day week it'd be forbidden by now.

I was promised this with computers in the workplace, but instead we are just expected to do more, not work less.

It leads to 7 days of scrounging for money.

lol productivity has been increasing steadily forever but somehow it’s never enough

There has been enough trials of four day working weeks to show that it increases productivity and happiness for everyone involved. That most businesses in the world won’t do it tells you more about how they feel about their employees than anything else.

Yep! It comes back (like many things) to poor management. I have known managers who couldn't imagine ever managing remotely -- until they had to do it and found they liked it, and it works, and they could actually *trust* their team.

The implied inverse correlation between productivity and weekly work hours is simply not borne out by history.

As we all know, technology that speeds up work has always resulted in more relaxation time for the workers, starting with the cotton gin.

nope it just means massive layoffs until the ai is too expensive to run then they’ll beg you to come back for a 1/4 of what you were making originally

remember when the headlines were "WHAT WORK WILL LOOK LIKE IN THE METAVERSE" anyway capitalism is going great no notes

Omg the metaverse looked so stupid with those floating torsos. I wonder if the people who paid for real estate there are happy with their investments

there should be a holiday set aside for publicly humiliating them

Metaverse property investment humiliation kink unlocked

The workers will be paid less, as the oligarchs will deem justifiably so, for their four day workweek as now the powers that be will demand that money as needed to hire a crew to maintain the AI they feel beholden to, for inoculating them against the working class.

One of my teachers told me (C.1984) that our future would mean more leisure time thanks to computers. It never occurred to anyone that we’d have to work harder for longer to keep up with IT.

Man if only there were studies that told us that a 4 day work week was a productivity boost with out AI, maybe ones that have been happening fairly regularly every couple of years for decades. Or at least that a 4 day work week didn't hurt productivity while improving nearly everything else.

There has been so much tech made in the past that would make it possible for people to work half the hours and produce the same amount but it's only used to work the same hours and produce more than needed, AI won't be any different

Capitalists, famous for settling for "enough"

Meanwhile

Neuralink-Linked Startup Working on Tech So You Can Keep Working While You Dreamfuturism.com Tech startup Prophetic says its device can help you induce lucid dreams that you can use to be productive while you sleep.

Fuuuuuuuuuck

This is the stuff of dystopian sci fi short stories.

Do you remember that GMO were supposed to end hunger in Africa and computers were supposed to lead to a 4 days week already ?

What "AI" is actually designed to do: bsky.app/profile/pris...

This is so bleak: "Fashion models in China are cutting prices to compete with AI: “If designers using AI charge 800 yuan, I’ll do 600. If they charge 600, I’ll get down to 500. There’s no other way out. I’ll fight till the end.” restofworld.org/2023/ai-revo...

The workers at the frontlines of the AI revolutionrestofworld.org The global labor force of outsourced and contract workers are early adopters of generative AI — and the most at risk.

Example of Betteridge's law ⬆️ ⬆️

it was so perfect to see 😄

Thank you, I’d forgotten the name of that Law! I’ve been thinking about it for a couple of days, but couldn’t frame the question to google.

Check out the original poster 😁

😄 oh gods, I didn’t even see that! 😂

That Betteridge guy's an idiot ;)

What?! Ew *unfollow* (joke)

Chipsters Local 011010100101 (That's all I got for an AI union joke)

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolibe... unions can't solve the embedded system

Neoliberalism - Wikipediaen.m.wikipedia.org

On the contrary: Collectivism is the only thing that can.

votenone.org.uk/protest_vote... you are wasting your time if you think liblabcon can solve the issues we face, after all they created them

Making Protest Votes Countvotenone.org.uk In 2015 16 million registered voters didn't vote. They were silent, invisible and ignored. If just some Vote NONE in 2017, they can create the biggest protest in UK history, and end the scandal of cla...

Of course not. When I say collectivism I mean direct collective action with immediate economic impact, not participation in a system designed only to facilitate the transfer of wealth from worker to the capital class. Mutual aid societies. General strikes. Monkeywrenching. Twisting the arm of power

100% this. Bosses didn't give us a 5-day work week out of the goodness of their heart. Workers got a 5-day work week by striking. Stands to reason, if we want a 4-day work week, we'll have to strike to show them how valuable we are.

www.gov.uk/government/p... they gave us a #gigeconomy so we are in and out of work so quick we never join a union james.. www.backthemac.com/worked-examp... whilst they outsource and undercut us, whilst slagging us off in their book en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britann... nah, not going back for more

Skilled Worker visa: eligible occupations and codeswww.gov.uk

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britann... took you 11 years to work it out then eh.. www.gov.uk/government/p... cos we've been outsourced and undercut, put on a #gigeconomy and low wages www.backthemac.com/worked-examp... hope you've got lots of energy for the fight

Britannia Unchained - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org

Didn't take me 11 years to work out anything.

If AI could lead to a 4 day work week, it would lead to a 0 day work week.

Tech layoffs gonna give us all days off.

Only problem is, the interview process is a full time job in itself.

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