A post written sometime after watching The Matrix, reading Douglas Coupland novels ,No Logo, The McDonaldization of Society, and Kalle Lasn’s Culture Jam
I am human.I am not a machine.
Do we not deify machines because of their consistency? They can, after all, do the same thing day after day after day, and this as a consequence is seen as something admirable in us as humans as well. This can be quite profitable – to do the same thing day after day without complaint or request, and to have our parts replaced as they wear out.
To subvert this slavery to effiicency we must do something different every day. Look around you. The gatekeepers of wealth and culture want nothing more than for you to want the same thing every day. In return, you can have exactly what you want today for every day for the rest of your life. Just be predictable, that’s all they ask. Well, that’s not entirely accurate – your tastes and desires are allowed to evolve, but they must evolve at the same rate, and in the same manner and direction as the rest of the demographic group to which you presently belong.
The efficient society is one in which it is man’s cheif aim to become more machine-like. Those who can follow a routine are rewarded most richly. Workers in large factories need only limit themselves to the simplist, most machine-like, one dimensional task and they can go home with $70,000. And after 30 years of this (for a total of $2.1 million) they can continue to be paid in their retirement. And this is seen as a desirable course of action for one’s life. To get a "good job" – and by that we mean one that pays better than any other we can find – is the goal of most who possess no other world-worthy skills or lack the ambition necessary to forge their own destiny. Even forging one’s own destiny can be seen only as becoming as machine master.
Remove, for a moment, money as a motivator. What would you be doing if money didn’t matter and doing something important with life every day did? What would you do with the hours in every day?
–
Michael Krahn
www.michaelkrahn.com
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