If you Google the name Seth you will find that Seth Godin’s blog and some of his other sites are returned as six of the results on page one. That’s huge, and if you don’t believe me then Google your own first name and see what Google returns for you. I usually read his posts regularly and once in awhile one of them resonates with me in a way that makes it difficult to get the concepts and ideas he shares out of my head. Seth’s recent post entitled The computer, the network, and the economy did just that, and I’d like to give you my take on it if you will be kind enough to indulge me in a thinking out loud exercise about technology and the economy.
When I began teaching in 1986 Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple Computers had just begun a program of placing an Apple IIe into every fifth grade classroom in the state of California. I’d started using a personal computer several years earlier and quickly learned how to use this new operating system. The next year I wrote a grant that was chosen and received three additional Apple computers. As far as I know, mine was the very first classroom to have four computers in 1987 and I was able to incorporate this new technology into my daily curriculum. Over the next twenty years I advocated for technology to be included in classroom instruction on a daily basis, and considered this to be vocational training for my lower socioeconomic status students from around the world. Technology and the economy dictated how their future would be different from that of their parents, and how opportunities would only be available if they could be on a level playing field with their more affluent counterparts from a young age.
Now at this same time technology and all of its perceived benefits were taking hold across the United States. ATM machines had replaced almost fifty percent of bank tellers and many activities, such as banking and income tax reporting, were far more prevalent then ever before. It was obvious that many jobs would continue to be replaced by machine and systems not even imagined twenty to thirty years previous, even though many people still objected to this reality. Seth Godin states…
“The good jobs I’m talking about are the ones that our parents were used to. Steady, consistent factory work. The sort of middle class job you could build a life around. Jobs where you do what you’re told, an honest day’s work, and get rewarded for it.
Those jobs. Where did they go?
The computer ate them.”
Yes, the computer keeps eating the jobs that you and I grew up assuming would still be around when our grandchildren entered the work force, and we have to face the fact that they are gone forever.
We can’t long for the future without erasing at least some of the past, and this is a prime example of that concept.
Seth goes on to explain the three-part shift brought about by technology…
“First, if you (the owner of the means of production, the boss, the industrialist) can find a supplier who can make a part for less, you will, and you did.
Second, once you can parcel work among your employees, you can measure them ever more closely and figure out how to maximize what you get (and minimize what you pay).
Third, computers make patient, consistent, cheap workers. When you can train a CNC machine or a spreadsheet to do a job better than a person can, odds are you will.”
He goes on to explain how the public school system plays a part in this scenario and how we must be willing to shift gears and think differently if we are to thrive in this new world.The solution, as I see it is to make yourself indispensable, a theory expounded upon by Godin in a number of his writings. People who value their uniqueness often find themselves in a position of great power and responsibility, while those striving to conform to society’s standards must be content with the status quo. Become a specialist in a world of mediocre generalists and the world will be your oyster.
If you’re familiar with the opening scene from a film called Lonely Are the Brave, when Kirk Douglas looks up in the sky to see a jet streak across the sky as he is perched upon his horse in the California desert, then you understand the magnitude of this situation. The only question is “Are you willing to leave some of the past behind to embrace the future?”
Connie,
This is such a timely topic!
It’s good to replace fear with facts 🙂
I couldn’t agree more, Kimberly.
Connie Ragen Green
“Are you willing to leave some of the past behind to embrace the future?”
I’ve been thinking about this topic a lot lately. This is the $64M question in my local community. I ask this question (or a variation of it) regularly and so far, the answer I most often receive is an angry “no”.
I live in Johnstown PA. We were at one time the steel capital of the U.S. We also used to produce huge amounts of coal. Both of those industries have been decimated in recent years and we are now the fastest shrinking community in the U.S. We’re also the poorest county in Pennsylvania.
People in this area are more interested in grieving the past and placing blame than they are in adapting to our new reality. This unwillingness to change has caused immeasurable suffering and heartache. It’s difficult to watch, knowing it’s entirely unnecessary.
I’m one of the lucky ones because I understand the new economy and have adapted my skills to survive in it. My income does not rely solely on the local economy. I’ve been working for several years now to create a “location independent” income. Now I’ve kind of made it my mission to show others how they can do the same. I’ve given a lot of thought to how I might do that, and now feel ready to begin the work. I’m putting this plan into action as we speak. I’m hopeful that I can make a difference in my community and communities just like it all over the world.
Thank you for sharing this very timely topic. There is much food for thought here. Now I’m off to hike the beautiful Western PA mountains and enjoy the solitude and serenity of nature. It’s where I do my best thinking. =)
Wendy – you make excellent points here. When I came online in 2006 and became a Rotarian I was repeatedly met with “but we’ve always done it this way” comments from Board members. By taking the helm to chair the committees I wished to work on we slowly turned around outdated thinking and replaced it with updated versions. This allowed the younger and newer members to benefit from what the longstanding members had experienced and to avoid stepping on any toes.
Enjoy your hike!
Connie Ragen Green
Displaced workers, college grads that can’t find employment, and under-employed laborers often look to technology and the dream of owning their own business as their new best hope for life long career employment. They envision the mostly mistaken idea that “push button” easy profits await anyone with a computer and a $17 e-course on how to make money online.
I have long been an advocate of solo online business, but a sad reality forces me to conclude that it takes much more than a desire to work from home, an Internet connection, and technology to make a living online.
The reality is … technology is a tool, an aid, a servant of man … but not a replacement for human action and intelligence.
Certainly everyone is a candidate for profitable technology aided self employment; however, most online business hopefuls do not possess the patience, persistence, or self discipline (sacrifice) it takes to learn the industry, apply smart proven actions, and endure while figuring out how to get around or over roadblocks.
Connie, you are a prime example of one of the minority of entrepreneurs that has overcome the odds.
Thanks so much for your well thought out and expressed comment, Steve.
Connie Ragen Green
Thank you for a great article Connie.
If there is no change there will be no tomorrow. We ned to embrace change, learn from the past and strive to make change better for the future. If we can do this we will make this a better world for all.
You are so right, Dave.
Connie Ragen Green
Hi Connie – Thanks for bringing this topic forward for discussion. I agree wholeheartedly with Steve Browne about the need for aspiring online entrepreneurs to be aware of what it takes to be successful online.. But I think Seth Godin is simplistic in his view that all lost jobs were eaten by the computer. There are still old-fashioned factory jobs available, but they are just not here in the USA anymore, thanks to political agendas and resulting “Globalization.” This battle will be fought out in the upcoming election campaign, but with no real change I fear.
The points made in your article are valid and we all need to put on our thinking caps for how to better move into the digital age while keeping the human relationships and connections alive. Those qualities are so necessary if we are to move into the future with any semblance of the niceties of being human.. You can hug a computer, but it can’t hug you back (yet)!
I’m not so sure I want more factories in the U.S., Steve. I’m in Europe every year and the factories are reminiscent of what we had here decades ago. The conditions are less than optimal and the opportunities for advancement extremely limited. However, I do agree with your comment on the importance of building relationships, and as I’ve often said about my Internet business over the past decade, I have more interaction with people on a daily basis than I ever did while working in the offline world.
Connie Ragen Green
You and Seth are both correct. It is not like we get to vote on whether we like the way technology is going….it is going to upgrade and simplify and move forward. The question as I see it is whether individuals are going to sit around shelling peas with their grandmother or embrace progress and see who can harness it for moving forward.
Then, if one still wants to sit out on the porch like in the good old days, they can do it and enjoy the afternoon in the porch swing knowing they can take care of the family instead of complaining about how it used to be!
Now, where are some peas!
Actually, we do get to vote, Cynthia. With every action we take, purchase we make, and decision we follow through with we have voted on how technology will affect our life for years to come. Thanks so much for your comment.
Connie Ragen Green