Hello r/antiwork,
As a person who owns a company that both manufactures consumer products and is gearing up to launch a line of automated CNC tools designed for single-proprietor and small business use, I'm curious to have a discussion around automation and the future of work. Obviously, I'm a strong advocate of automation, having experienced its benefits as both a single-person (me) company and as an employer of 70 people. I've found that automation is the fastest path to being able to pay higher salaries.
The trouble I see is that we can go down one of two paths: concentrating ownership of the value created by automation in the hands of a few (bad outcome IMHO) or distribute ownership of automation so that the value it creates is felt as directly as possible by individuals. At least in the manufacturing sector, automation is on the verge of becoming incredibly affordable and easy to use. There's no valid reason it needs to be the sole domain of large corporations. In a non-union setting, the best way to give employees agency is to have them either own their own business or work for one that is small.
Below is the rough pitch for the machine tool company I'm building. I'd appreciate the chance to discuss these ideas. I'm both worried and optimistic about the future. Concentrated ownership of automation is terrifying to me. UBI and the dependence that engenders terrifies me. A world in which rich people no longer need employees or customers would certainly be a dystopia.
Cheers.
— the pitch —
The products you buy should be built to last a lifetime. The products you spend a lifetime with should be made by people you can know. The automation that can make all this possible should be owned by many and not concentrated in the hands of a few.
We’re optimistic about the future and humanity’s place within it. As a species we are intrinsically tied to the material objects we design, produce, and use. As far back as you look in human history, you will find sacred objects. We are materialistic at our core. From that premise spring three important observations:
- Culture and products are inextricably linked, but in a world in which we know little about how our coveted objects are made, our materialistic system of meaning becomes hollow, our culture meaningless.
- Solutions to the problems of over-consumption (resource depletion, environmental damage, etc.) that rely on an anti-materialistic philosophy are doomed to failure.
- Our ability to shape the material of the world is fundamental to our sense of agency.
We’re optimistic because we believe that automation can help. Direct ownership of automated production capacity allows individuals and small companies to manufacture and sell products without the middle man. That means affordable products that can be built to last a lifetime instead of built to support layers of margin.
Making products closer to their markets reduces the waste of transport, the risk of brittle supply chains, and allows a diversity of design to flourish that does justice to the cultural meaning we invest our possessions with. And ownership of this productive capacity means a renewed sense of personal agency in a world that all too often makes us feel like we have no say.