Cars and Factory Work (was Cars and Victorians)

[Wojtek Sokolowski]

At 02:03 PM 5/6/98 -0400, Lou Proyect wrote in response to Yoshie:
>>I would also like to call attention to the fact that driving car is very
>>much like factory work in one sense: it forces drivers to pay _constant
>>low-grade attention_ to their machines and surroundings so as not to cause
>>accidents. This need to pay constant low-grade attention is very mentally
>>stressful and yet does not require meaningful intellectual engagement. The
>>same need is imposed upon workers inside factories, so they have to put up
>>with the same kind of stress before, during, and after work hours.
>>
>>Yoshie
>>
>
>This is a tremendous point. Driving to and fro work has always seemed like
>an extension of the work day to me. 

To further illustrate the point.  A cell phone ad on a NJ Transit bus
(presumably directed at yuppies commutinng to work in thier yuppiemobiles):
"If you had [and image of the cell phone] you would be at work now."

Work being the most exciting place to be - a sad testomony to the quality
of life in the suburban US of A.

Wojtek Sokolowski