[extropy-chat] economics of scarcity to economics of plenty

[Julian Assange]

On Wed, 2 Nov 2005 08:48:07 +0100, "Eugen Leitl" <eugen at leitl.org> said:
> On Tue, Nov 01, 2005 at 03:15:17PM -0800, Samantha Atkins wrote:
> 
> > Exception prove that the "rule" is bogus nonsense like most over- 
> > generalizations.   It is true I am more often called "Principle  
> > Architect" or "Computer Scientist" lately but I still design and  
> > implement systems.  I have been doing so for 26 years.  I am now  
> > 51.   Some people might call that "old".   After they pick themselves  
> > up from the ground we get on with business.  :-)
> 
> Yes, you're an exception, not the rule. Very few people can stay
> at the technical cutting edge that long. Current IT is novelty-driven,
> and has crazy working hours. Buzzword compliance and ability
> to pull overtime drive out the old. It's a blue-collar occupation.

It has for a lot of people been declasse.

What really seems to seperate blue-collar work from professions is that
the latter involves manipulation of human perception. The result being
that long term success is more about how well you relate to other people
than how well you can perform technically. There's no simple performance
metric for doctors, lawyers, academics or businessmen -- its all about
perception control.