Haha those Luddites, raging against their fear of the unfamiliar rather than just getting with the times. Look where all that aimless lashing out got them! Here in the modern world we are clearly very enlightened and understand that technology is obviously good. Obviously. If only they had just stopped to think about their role in society!

Here’s a funny little story. Let’s suppose a group of people were experienced and employed in the field of producing ‘soft wares’, and took pride in producing such wares that were functional and resilient. In order to produce these wares, this group of people often made use of all sorts of sophisticated tools and machines that enabled them to produce soft wares more advanced than they were capable of making by themselves. Now also suppose that some years prior a line of bullshit machines had been produced that a relatively unexperienced labourer could use to slop out soft wares that were not fit for purpose, but could perform a reasonable facsimile for long enough to become somebody else’s problem.

I know there’s a lot to be imagining here but please try to go one further by supposing a group of executives that see these bullshit machines and are amazed at how little training it takes to use one. The executives thus implore their staff to make full use of the bullshit machines, keeping close tabs not on any usefulness of the resulting wares but only on their volume. To ensure this volume is maintained, the executives proclaim their intent to lay off or dock the pay of anyone that elects not to use a bullshit machine in favour of producing wares any other way, and will bring in new people with little to no experience making soft wares to operate the bullshit machines, for lesser pay, in their place.

And hey, maybe a bullshit machine occasionally leads to someone’s untimely death, but it’s a small price to be paid (by others) for such productivity!

One last hypothetical. Suppose you are a producer of soft wares, witness to all these conditions. Would you be inclined to take direct action against the existence of bullshit machines in your workplace?