We are clearly in a major and permanent depression, as the internet has replaced every job which required manufacturing, boxing, stocking, racking, packaging, shipping, typesetting, retrieving records, printing, filing, directing phone calls, ringing up prices (bar codes) and even advertising agencies. (A monkey can purchase click-ads with selected market parameters)
We seem about a year away from selling apples on the street, and I don't mean Ipods. I hear reporters over and over again say "when the jobs come back" and I wonder, have you EVER heard a commentator say "We are losing jobs because of the internet?" I suspect it is because they don't want to spread bad news.
When I shop at the grocery store, I leave my empty cart askew somewhere in the back forty of the parking lot simply because I know the company will have to hire at least one kid to bring it back.
I recently looked up some information on the most recent internet success story of late, Tumblr. Tumblr has 3 million users, gains 15,000 more every day, and the system handles 15 million posts a week. Guess how many employees Tumblr has? Go ahead....guess.
ELEVEN.
That's right. One of the most successful internet launches in years, and the company has eleven employees total. TOTAL. They created a huge population of folks who steal photos and help build their content, but they sure aren't paying any of them. Even if Tumblr announced "a major hiring flurry" of, oh...let's say ten percent they would only increase the staff to 12.
So how come we don't see pole sitters, sky dancers, waterfall walkers or dance marathoners anymore? When I pass a fellow with a sign reading "will work for food" I often wonder why he isn't laying on a bed of nails or living on a billboard for a month.
My guess is regulation and such...to set the world's longest record for goldfish eating today, you would probably need insurance and a permit.
Here is an assortment from the glory days of stunts. Click to Enlarge.
All Original Photographs and Real Photo Post Cards Collection Jim Linderman
"So how come we don't see pole sitters, sky dancers, waterfall walkers or dance marathoners anymore?"
ReplyDeleteBecause they're all now pundits on Fox News
At first I felt like a dull bulb/dim tool for not thinking about how much the internet displaces workers. Then I slapped my head and thought that you may be overlooking something. (Not to bust your rant in two).
ReplyDeleteThere are millions of monkeys out there who, out of work, started up a little micro business for themselves. The 'HandMade' category being one of the fastest growing sectors. So maybe it evens out, maybe it's good that the monkeys have to be creative and figure it out. At least they're trying something.
On the flip side, it is rather depressing that there aren't any monkeys performing physical antics of wonder on the street corners anymore. I might just crawl out from under my lava rock to see what's going on if they were there.
I have renamed America, it is now 'faded glory', after the cheap china clothes brand of Walmart, after the sparkle and energy was depleted by jack booted thugs. We let them and that's the sorrowful truth.
This monkey is signing off with an old Chinese curse:
'May you live in interesting times.'
Eleven employees? That's about ten more than I expected for a site that produces no original content.
ReplyDeleteJim, I like their business model - but can they stay at elenen individuals? Ray Norman (the cultural jammer in Tasmania, that's the little island under our little island which the world calls Australia) . . . he has an eleven blogspot where he published things 'under a dozen' here: http://www.collectelevens.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteWith my blog and your blog at least we publish our own stuff, the things we collect, the objects we publish - we bring into the world . . . I'm getting a bit jaded about the blogosphere's use of material without the attendant source links.
As for pole sitters and dancers, etc they're still out there with their limited audience just waiting for John Foster to pick up on 'em! (at least he provides his sources). Its the death of the post card, the demise of the postal service. The internet has given us new vehicles but the kinky performers seem to be politicians and scientists now.
I'm a little puzzled. A few months ago you posted here praising Tumblr and many of its users:
ReplyDeletehttp://dulltooldimbulb.blogspot.com/2010/05/do-you-tumblr-i-do-frontier-of.html
Now you sound completely soured, though you
continue to participate. What changed?
A recent flickr blogger's reaction to mis-use of original material I just found:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.flickr.com/people/eriknitsche/
I'm not soured on Tumblr, I think it is an amazing thing,(or stunt, as it were) and that they were able to pull it off with 11 employees is even more astounding. I don't have to make a living off the images I own, and nearly everything I post on this and my other blogs is something in my own collection, but if I were someone whose livelihood depended on my own creations, I certainly would be upset. As I recently told a friend, even XEROX from 50 years ago is technically illegal and a violation of copyright, but technology progresses faster than the law. My posts on tumblr don't express problems with tumblr (or any of the other web-based content aggregators) only that they aren't going to provide any jobs for any of us. EVER. My advice to ALL....WATERMARK your images if you post them anywhere. And I've said that before too.
ReplyDeleteHa, this post reminds me of the film, "They shoot horses, don't they?" ... maybe we'll all dance until we drop since Tumblr wont be hiring anytime soon... ;-)
ReplyDelete