Enzo
-----Original Message----- From: Tom Lehman <TLEHMAN at lor.net> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com> Date: Monday, December 14, 1998 1:31 PM Subject: Re: cyberutopian libertarianism
>Dear Enzo,
>
>All this electronic stuff is very nice. I myself have worked on projects
like
>maximizing electric power generation while minimizing the use of expensive
>fuels. My bosses were happy and my union brothers and me were rewarded.
There
>was also a nice little social benefit to this in that we were able to use
>byproduct gas efficiently rather than see it flared off the stack.
>
>Enzo, the real problem is that although electronics can help control
process
>equipment they do little or nothing to solve basic human problems like safe
>water, sanitary systems, irrigation, food, shelter, clothing etc. etc.
Sure
>electronics are nice add ons to make process equipment more efficient, but,
they
>are not a substitute for the process equipment itself. This is where steel
>comes in; steel is one of the materials used to construct the process
equipment.
>
>Sincerely,
>Tom L.
>
>Enzo Michelangeli wrote:
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: michael at ecst.csuchico.edu <michael at ecst.csuchico.edu>
>> Subject: cyberutopian libertarianism
>>
>> >Doug Henwood wrote:
>> >
>> >> Figures. So many of you cybertypes can be so casual about
displacement;
>> >> you can bounce from job to job, place to place, and survive. Not
everyone
>> is
>> >> so blessed - those forces you dismiss as the "steel lobby" and
"textile
>> >> lobby" include lots of displaced, downsized, and disposed of workers
>> along
>> >> with the nationalist union tops and pampered managers.
>>
>> Oh, listen: what I see in Hong Kong is that everybody survived pretty
well
>> to a massive two-decades shift from a mass-production economy to
nowadays'
>> service economy (85% of the GDP, in these days). People learn new skills
>> much faster than you believe. And besides, tell me one reason why I
should
>> be more concerned for the income of relatively well-fed first-world
workers
>> than for the one of their thirld-world would-be replacements, who earn
fifty
>> times less.
>>
>> [Michael]:
>> >I respond with a lame telnet account:
>> >
>> >Yes, until you get to be about 40 and the industry considers you to be
so
>> >much dead meat.
>>
>> Hey, I'm 44 and still alive and kicking, thank you very much (despite the
>> fact that in Cantonese "44", pronounced "say sap say", sounds like
"Death,
>> sure death" :-) )
>>
>> > You have a still immature sector where start ups are still
>> > common, unlike the mature sectors, such as steel, coal, textiles,
>> > but also media. Little by little, the AOLs and the Microsofts
>> > invade this still fertile turf. As that happens, the brave
>> > libertarianism common to that sector will dissipate.
>>
>> I sincerely believe I'll live long enough to see Microsoft's demise, or,
at
>> least, cutting to size. Not thanks to anti-trust action, but simply
because
>> they won't be able to move fast enough.
>>
>> Cheers --
>>
>> Enzo
>
>
>