The New Machine Society

Machines have always been with us, and have been one of the main ways we use to organize ourselves. The Pyramids were built with machines made of people, and the workers were paid in bread, onions, and beer.

Later, the Romans invented the first military organizations, also organized as hierarchical mechanical units. And this type of military organization is still used today.

The next big invention, was the Steam Engine, a machine where all the parts were mechanical, and which burned fossil fuels (usually coal) to obtain its energy.

This had a huge impact on the people of its time - in what we now call Industrialization. This created factories, where workers were forced to work for long hours, for minimal wages - barely enough to stay alive. The workers were treated as machines themselves.

Gradually, the workers were able to organize themselves, and demand better working conditions. And in America, formed an affluent Middle Class, that had good jobs in the factories. that produced most of the world's goods. Henry Ford, who pioneered the Assembly Line - priced his wages, and his cars, so his workers could buy them.

America, after WWII, was the richest, and most powerful nation in history. But this highly-desirable state of affairs, did not last. Why?

There must be many answers to this question. but the main one - I believe, was simply because America did not try to protect its advantage. Or, to put his another way - it did not concentrate, on being good to itself. Such an idea was foreign to its nature. And is still foreign to its nature.

All I have said so far, was a long introduction, to my main subject - the Computer Economy, or the New Machine Society.

The computer, especially the Phone, has been given such a clever user interface - that people have assumed, that somehow - it is human. And its main job, is helping them. But it is just another machine, whose main job is making its owners rich and powerful.

But it can be useful to its users also - I am writing this blog on a laptop, right now  As users, we have to share power with its designers - Microsoft and Google.

This is a kind of power sharing, that I am comfortable with. The computer companies have their rights - and I have mine.