DragonI

Feudalism and the “Algorithmic Economy” – Basic income – Medium

Using AI and algorithms to return to feudal economic models

medium.com|Thaddeus Howze

In this essay, I posit something I call the “Algorithmic Economy” though it is often called the “Sharing Economy” or the “On-Demand Economy” by economists and other writers on this subject.

I prefer the “Algorithmic Economy” because it speaks to the creeping effects on decisions being made by companies and organizations, which not only include automation used in factories, but the development of apps and programs which use algorithms to direct, control and manage Human behavior.

Welcome to the Algorithmic Economy, a future which uses machines to determine how effective you can be and how little they can pay you in the process.

There are no unions in this economy. There are no bosses to complain to. There are no people you can ask for redress. Because in this economy, the people doing the labor are considered the least important part of the machine and it’s best if they never communicate with someone living if it can be helped.

As programmers using design-thinking engage computers to map, monitor and control Human endeavors, it is becoming more prevalent that computers are effectively in charge of Human behaviors utilizing a number of algorithms (programmed behaviors and decisions made by programmers to elicit a desired response from Humans or there programs) to enrich corporations using such technology such as Lyft, Uber, TaskRabbit and many other such “on-demand” driven businesses.

With recent laws being created, it will be possible to extract your data from an ISP and create profiles allowing advertisers to send information directly to you, no matter where you are.

Their goal is to create a workforce bound by their economic debt to the system, forced to take whatever work they can find, while being paid as little for that work as possible, understanding ultimately, the creation of an indentured workforce is not only the result but an expected one, keeping society enfeebled and unable to create opportunities for further development.

For most older workers, their opportunities lie with older exploitive corporations such as Walmart, known for its low pay and older workforce, or at the hands of the aforementioned Uber, who has, at least in the Bay Area, has a much older, and more minority workforce.

If Uber’s programmers are smart enough to recognize how those numbers and gamification ensure their own prosperity, they are also aware that drivers earn less, stay with the company for less time and will eventually leave the company once they understand how they are being exploited.

People without money can’t improve themselves or their communities. People who exploit those people don’t help with those communities either, creating a vacuum effect, taking money from communities without ever returning an equal or greater amount of money to those areas, ensuring the slow and inexorable decline of society over time.

Do a bit of research on the subject of the On-Demand economy. While prognostications promote the idea it is good for investors, almost no mention of the people doing the work and their eventual fates are ever mentioned. Here is an amazing collection of essays on the On-Demand economy which point out the future of this industry and what it means to the modern workforce.

Don't want your Ivanka Trump clothes? One art collective has a solution (and revolution) for that

The "Make America Rational Again" project imagines an avant-garde future for Ivanka Trump apparel.

www.bestofneworleans.com|Kat Stromquist

For those hoping to divest themselves of, say, a closet full of Ivanka-branded sheath dresses, one art collective has a solution. The Rational Dress Society (RDS)  is soliciting donations of Ivanka Trump apparel for its "Make America Rational Again" project. Donations are accepted locally at Pelican Bomb Gallery X through July.

The "Make America Rational Again" project reimagines Ivanka Trump clothes as the base components of this more socially conscious apparel. RDS is seeking donations of unwanted Ivanka Trump-branded apparel at several locations across the country. After collecting the donations, RDS members will then break those clothes down into post-consumer fiber and yarn, to be spun into a micro-run of jumpsuits to be auctioned "for as much money as humanly possible," Brewer says.

"[After the election] we were extremely despondent, weeping into our cornflakes," Brewer says. "We were reading more and more about ... Ivanka Trump's clothing line and realized that what she was doing was kind of directly connected to these larger systems that we had been critiquing in our project all along. ... [Ivanka Trump garments are] sort of like tainted clothes."

The reality of working in a factory making clothes for Ivanka Trump’s label has been laid bare, with employees speaking of being paid so little they cannot live with their children, anti-union intimidation and women being offered a bonus if they don’t take time off while menstruating.

The workers’ complaints come only a week after labour activists investigating possible abuses at a Chinese factory that makes Ivanka Trump shoes disappeared into police custody.

Alia makes the legal minimum wage for her job in her province: 2.3 million rupiah, or about $173 a month – but that legal minimum is among the lowest in Indonesia as a whole, and as much as 40% lower than in Chinese factories, another labour source for the Ivanka Trump brand.

“I can’t stand it any more. I work unpaid overtime every day and still earn just 2.3 million [rupiah] a month. I’m planning to move from Subang, where the minimum wage is too low. But I don’t know where to go yet. I haven’t got any connections.”

Report details workers’ rights violations at Apple’s iPhone 7 supplier Pegatron

Industry watchdog China Labor Watch this week published a new report detailing what it says are continued workers’ rights violations at factories owned by Apple supplier Pegatron.

9to5mac.com

Below is a summary from the report of the main issues China Labor Watch found:

1. In 2015, workers’ hourly wage was $1.85 USD. In 2016, workers’ hourly wage increased to $2.00 USD. After deductions, this amounts to only $1.60 USD.
2. Of the 2015 paystubs, 62% had over 82 hours of overtime work per month. One worker put in 109 hours of overtime work per month, working 293 hours in total.
3. Chinese law forbids companies from asking interns to work overtime, however, interns at Pegatron had overtime work amounting to 80 hours per month on average. This is roughly the same amount as full-time employees.
4. Workers must rely on overtime pay to support themselves as the base wage is too low. Workers who don’t work overtime only earn around $213 USD after deducting expenses.
5. Workers in most production lines must arrive at work 10 minutes earlier than the regular schedule, but the 10 minutes are unpaid.
6. Workers spend about 60 minutes each day, passing through the security procedures and ID Checks before entering the workshop. This encroached on workers’ rest time.
7. The factory forces workers to work overtime. Asking for leave during peak season is usually not approved.
8. Workers are exposed to potential occupational injuries without proper protection.

Apple responded to the data last month before it was published, according to China Labor Watch, and “admitted that in some production departments of Pegatron, excessive overtime did exist,” but said that the percentage was lower than found in the investigation. “Apple did not provide details about their sample size and how they calculated overtime hours,” the report adds.