The Gig Economy

[Editorial]

Jobs have changed. We have gone from a company being the bedrock of the community to chasing the lowest common denominator.

All around were bedrocks of industry—Stanley Works, North & Judd, United Aircraft, Aetna, and Travelers. But like other businesses, they fled to states with lower taxes. Then many of them fled overseas.

There are things that can use the gig economy, like construction, and there are jobs that are conducive to working from home, while others require all employees to work together as a team, such as in a factory.

In 1978, I got a job building control systems for all types of plants, including nuclear. There were some employees who had already been there for ten years. I worked my way up to running a testing department with 24 technicians, and we had very little turnover so we all knew our jobs. When you do one-of-a-kind designs, you have redesigns; we even had a fancy name for it: Problem Disposition Report (PDR).

It was for "Oops!" You know, you go to mount something on a cabinet wall and there is something in the way... so you write a PDR. The engineers go and battle it out, then send the PDR back and say, "Do it this way instead." We say okay and go on and do it. But with a job shop, they get out their pens and start adding up the changes... um... let's see... taking that off and moving it there will cost you... hmmm... 4 million dollars. Therefore, a company of bean counters who never ran a custom engineering shop ran the company over 9 billion dollars into the hole! The company that bought us out is known for TVs.

So what I am getting at is that when these gig people go from job to job, the company loses tribal knowledge. When a problem is found, the people who designed it are no longer around to help fix it.

We are also in the beginning another revolution: the AI and robotic revolution! I tie them together because I think very, very shortly the two will be merged.

I urge you all to read the 1952 book by Kurt Vonnegut Jr., Player Piano:

Why you should read: Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut

by Rachel Bradley

 

Before writing his breakout work Player Piano, Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., an American science fiction writer, worked in Public Relations at General Electric.  He observed the cutting-edge automation of what was traditionally machinists’ work.  According to Vonnegut, GE’s decision to have a computer “make all the decisions wasn't a vicious thing to do . . . But it was too bad for the human beings who got their dignity from their jobs.”  So summarizes the heart of Player Piano, Vonnegut’s first novel, a book that arguably came well before its time (published in 1952) and now deserves a second consideration.

Goodreads put it this way:

Kurt Vonnegut’s first novel spins the chilling tale of engineer Paul Proteus, who must find a way to live in a world dominated by a supercomputer and run completely by machines. Paul’s rebellion is vintage Vonnegut—wildly funny, deadly serious, and terrifyingly close to reality.

What good science fiction does is suggest possible futures, and Mr. Vonnegut nailed it!

[/Editorial]