Automation and mechanization have always led, in the end, to greater prosperity. You know the story: hand-weavers revolted against the machine loom, but now everyone can have more than one pair of pants and people have new jobs like choosing clothes for celebrities or using sandpaper on new jeans to give them an authentic hand-distressed look. But maybe, just maybe, this time is different. The debate has gotten predictable enough that it’s almost possible to automate the creation of thinkpieces about it.
This analysis of the McKenzie Global Institute report is pretty grim:
Economists have always believed that previous waves of job destruction led to an equilibrium between supply and demand in the labor market at a higher level of both employment and earnings. But if robots can actually replace, not just displace, humans, it is hard to see an equilibrium point until the human race itself becomes redundant.
As a counterpoint, Eichengreen argues that the the pace of automation-driven change is not as rapid as some fear, and that jobs will be more likely to adapt than to disappear entirely. Still, we’re definitely in an era where “lifelong learning” isn’t an aspiration for thoughtful people but an absolute requirement for economic survival.
Anyway, we all know the story. In the long run…
Bang bang
When the Black Panthers started the carrying long guns in public, Ronald Reagan was moved to sign a gun control law to outlaw the practice. Huffpo interviews some folks to get a look at the state of black gun ownership today.
Cultivating secrecy
The cabinet is shrouded in secrecy: Many agencies refuse to release information on meetings, in what definitely seems to be an attempt to hide the patronage and influence of the wealthy and powerful.
Meanwhile in North Carolina, Trump is turning the judiciary back to the bad old days, nominating a protege of Jesse Helms. Helms was a dinosaur and an embarrassment even in the 1990s, when Farr worked to help him suppress the black vote. The voter suppression, gerrymandering, and disenfranchisement operation Farr abetted kept Helms in power until 2003. (Also of note: He’s a graduate of wingnut-favorite Hillsdale College…)
Cultivating interest
A history of Washington’s worst intersection.
The world’s first comedy film, from 1895: a 45-second prank video.
Cultivating joy
Redditors see this dog and immediately begin a parody of “Shorty got low…”
Awkward kitten practices…. something.
Camo cat.
Secretly Ironic 