Who's Afraid of the Internet?

Who is afraid of the Information Revolution? Who is afraid of the Internet?

People who work in media and publishing hate and fear the internet and the Information Revolution. So do politicians. And government armies and the police. It terrifies them. What about doctors? They hate it and despise it – or if not quite yet, they soon will. Lawyers? The same. What about IT professionals? Surely they must be happy about it? Nope. Even people who work in IT hate and fear the information revolution because each new major development renders most of their jobs redundant. So the answer to the question “Who is afraid of the Information Revolution?” would appear to be: everyone. Everyone is afraid of the information revolution. Or at least, everyone who makes their living and who gets their power from controlling access to information.

The absolute material wealth and well-being of the human species has increased hugely over the last couple of centuries because more work has been done by machines, robots and computers. Also, the quality and quantity of information available to people has increased and improved, thus allowing them to act more rationally and more effectively. Life-expectancies have increased, infant mortality has decreased, literacy has rocketed. Not only that, the world has become a much, much safer and more civilised place. The oppression of women, ethnic minorities and homosexuals has decreased and become less and less acceptable. Violence has decreased. Basically, for most people things have been getting better and better in every way. Technological development (particularly since the Industrial Revolution) has allowed us to largely abolish slavery and serfdom and replace them with wage-slavery (or “employment”). The onset of the recent Information Revolution will transform our societies just as dramatically, but as yet most people are only dimly aware of just how dramatic this transformation will be.

For example, as indicated above, professional employment is increasingly going to become a thing of the past. Computers and robots will render most “professional” jobs more-and-more irrelevant. Most of the following professionals will no longer be needed very much and you will not need to pay much or anything for their services even if you do ever want them: surgeons, doctors, dentists, pharmacists, lawyers, judges, professors, journalists, architects, engineers, bankers, stockbrokers, financial advisors, accountants, tax consultants, bureaucrats, intelligence agents, managers, salespeople - as well as information technology professionals. Even at the moment, most professionals spend most of their “working” day surfing the internet, pretending to work, drinking coffee, and going to lunch, simply because there is actually very little for them to do (everyone, that is, except me, since I work incredibly hard myself). And they only get paid what they do because artificial barriers to entry allow them to enjoy monopoly power for the moment. Eventually, this farce will end and the barriers will be torn down. So if your self-respect depends on the status and money you hope to get from paid professional employment then be afraid. Be very afraid. On the other hand, if you are a nice person who is fun to be with then there is no need to be afraid of the Information Revolution – you will have high status in the new world that is coming.

MAny people are fretting about the increase in unemployment due to the recent recessions. But they are looking at this problem from the wrong perspective. Unemployment is only a problem because people’s status in society is currently determined by their job. That may have been feasible in the world of the Industrial Revolution. It is utterly unfeasible in the world of the Information Revolution. The best way to get rid of unemployment is actually to get rid of employment. Employment is a new concept. Until the industrial revolution the concepts of employment and “jobs” scarcely existed. We only imagine this to be the natural order because that is all we have experienced. But it wasn’t like that in the past and it will not be like that in the future.

Currently, the biggest determinant of a person’s status in society is their employment or job. Success in employment chiefly indicates two things about a person
a) a capacity to endure boredom and
b) an ability to suck up to people who are responsible for your “success”.
Why either of these abilities should determine a person’s status in society is beyond me. Nevertheless, that has been the case for some time. Anyway, that will all change now – your status in society will increasingly depend on your moral qualities and your social qualities i.e. it will depend on how nice you are and on how creative and fun you are to be around. That is why the mediocre people who currently thrive in the tedious world of professional employment are so terrified of the Information Revolution.

Personally, I am looking forward immensely to the annihilation of employment and an end to wage-slavery. We managed to get rid of slavery and serfdom. Now for the next (and perhaps final) revolution: the elimination of wage-slavery and employment.