Tuesday, December 23, 2008

from manufacturing to service to..........

the prevailing buzz amongst analysts is that we are at the end of the manufacturing age in north america, and i tend to agree.

the analysts speak of us entering a service economy wherein we will all be gainfully employed in providing a service of some sort......

...everything from baby-sitting to counceling to sales.

cool.

except that money (capital) is moving so quickly these days that the service jobs are being taken by new immigrants, or outsourced overseas......as anyone who has spoken to a call-in service department recently will understand.

and with the emerging next economy involving total connectivity and information management, only those with a complete understanding of this technology and administration will be able to capitalise.

so it begs the question......

....doesn`t it?

8 comments:

Vincent said...

I wish that nobody will be able to capitalise. For in your context it means "take advantage". There has been too much of that.

We are all migrants. I think you need to stop thinking of North America, and be world citizens, sharing its joys and sorrows.

The analysts are part of the problem, national interest is part of the problem, capital is part of the problem. Power is all of the problem.

Vincent said...

I don't know what question it begs, though.

Dr.Alistair said...

vincent, i agree in one sense, but this is all part of abundance....technology, money, things....and cut one`s self off for some political belief is to limit one`s own abundance.

too many refuseniks live in a poverty of one sort or another and resent that which others have attracted.

the question the analysis begs is how to adapt to the new emerging technological information economy.

those who fail to adapt will really be left out in the cold.

Dr.Alistair said...

ok, so let`s address the "take advantage" thingy.....

we all must take advantage somehow.

food dies as we digest it, by necessity.

we can`t hope to live for any length of time by eating dead things, rocks, chemicals, etc.

so, we are all survivors of the struggle to eat or be eaten, and sit comfortable and in denial of the process most of the time.

if we stop taking advantage we fail to thrive.

this is the tip of the iceburg regarding advantage and goes in many different directions, from purely survivalist to greedy or criminal, depending on your moral and ethical position.

Vincent said...

I think you are bending your moral and ethical position to justify the status quo. Well, who doesn't?

I wouldn't call my position that of a refusenik; we all have to adapt to the immediate environment. If I am a dolphin captured in an oceanarium, it is true that I have to preform stupid tricks to get the fish I need. But to stay sane i have to feel how this goes against my true nature and dignity as a dolphin.

Vincent said...

As for this philosophy of abundance, where did that spring from? I think it is probably the root cause of the credit crunch.

Do you know where it has sprung from? I suspect it is a way of stealing from the third world and the planet's resources and feeling smug about it; as though it has a profound philosophic respectability.

Dr.Alistair said...

bending? no.

my moral position is personal and mostly private......and at odds with most issues of a modern, liberal society.....which seems motly hell-bent on breaking dwn most traditional values and replacing them with that of convenience.

regarding the philosophy of abundance, i will say that one has to work very hard not to see and experience abundance in everything.....which is a belief designed to make us do things we hate to make a living and save for our retirement....all the while proving how tough life is.

occasionally i meet someone who gets it, but most are just too tired and stressed to listen, determined to rest up and work harder tomorrow.

for what?

more things?

Dr.Alistair said...

the credit crunch, by the way, is a product of fiat curency, not of the desires of people.....

....look it up.