Introduction to mechanisation of mental labour

The computer can be differentiated from industrial technology.
1. The computer does not do "work" like the machines of the industrial revolution
  1. They handle "control" and "information"
"The automatic machine...is the precise economic equivalent of slave labour. Any labour which competes with slave labour must accept the economic conditions of slave labour" (Norbert Wiener, 1954)
Control mechanisms in steel industry
1. Steel hammer allowed for the deliberate variation of force
Expansion of human activities
1. Technology does not simply substitute for human labour but can also expand human capacities
  1. Computer to process an assignment
    1. More accurate
  2. Search for a word
    1. Quicker than doing it manually
Enhancement of human capacities
1. For with the help of machinery, human labour performs actions and creates things which without it would be absolutely impossible of accomplishment. (Karl Marx, 1993 p.309)
2. Example
  1. Google search - can search for a phrase to check for copyright infringement. Almost impossible to do previously
3. Example
  1. Smartphones can be substituted for human labour but only when the human labour has developed the essential technology to replace the process. The smartphone is a result of the collection of years of research and human labour by many different individuals and groups and this collective development then shaped the final product. Any new technology or automated process is a product of human labour.
    1. These new technologies can be used to extend and enhance the capabilities of human labour. The smartphone can be used by a human to enhance their communication abilities, allows them to be more productive with the ability to stay connected to the world through email and social media.
      1. The smartphone contains apps which can be described as “special purpose information machines” which are downloaded onto your universal machine (smartphone) and used. These apps can reduce the mental human labor by performing tasks such as calculating, converting, spell checking and so on. With these apps, a human can enjoy a much more productive and efficient way of completing these tasks with this technology.
Concept of an information machine
1. Regarded as doing a form of mental work
  1. Excel formula in a spreadsheet - Substitutes for direct mental albour and is doing a form of mental work
Significance of the materiality of information technology
1. Not significant as long as the parts carry out their intended purpose
2. When a particular machine is described to us, we do not first ask questions about its material construction (Minsky, 1967 p.5)
Computer as an information machine
1. Can be understood as an information machine, rather than as industrial technology, in the sense made explicit by Minsky
  1. The computer is a universal information machine capable of being programmed to imitate the operations of any other special purpose information machine
Difference in cost will be large in terms of labour.
1. Once the technology diffuses, the initial cost of the machine will reduce
2. Example
  1. Add up data by hand / Add up data with formula
    1. When dealing with larger sets of data, formula will be more efficient thus enhancing capabilities
Analogously, an appropriately programmed computer, used for human communication rather than for machine control, can be regarded as both
1. Substituting for direct human labour in relation to processes which were previously humanly done.
2. Extending human capacities for mental work, similarly building on existing information technologies.

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Introduction to mechanisation of mental labour

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