Thesis: the assembly line trained people for the top-down mass politics of the 1900s.
Today's workplace is network-based. With the crucial exception of China, which still builds things, any viable political ideology will scale up what people are doing on their devices.
Today's workplace is network-based. With the crucial exception of China, which still builds things, any viable political ideology will scale up what people are doing on their devices.
Put another way: you don't get communism, fascism, or mid-century democratic capitalism without mass production. Top-down politics pantomimed the assembly line. Centralized states told the masses what to do.
See for example:
See for example:
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1450246769510551552
Today, the West has deindustrialized, while China has industrialized.
Millions of its people are still conditioned to work together en masse in factories. The scenes below are still common.
This may be why it's capable of doing things like the 1950s US, but the 2020s US is not.
Millions of its people are still conditioned to work together en masse in factories. The scenes below are still common.
This may be why it's capable of doing things like the 1950s US, but the 2020s US is not.
As Alinsky put it, "never go outside the experience of your people…the result is confusion"
The West remembers mid-century politics, is still geared for them at an official level, but the workplace & lifestyle are completely different. It's not an assembly line culture anymore.
The West remembers mid-century politics, is still geared for them at an official level, but the workplace & lifestyle are completely different. It's not an assembly line culture anymore.
The assembly line trained millions to take orders from leaders, then dutifully carry out a choreographed set of tasks.
Even union actions were well organized, as union leaders could (implicitly) call upon that self-same shared experience even when protesting the company.
Even union actions were well organized, as union leaders could (implicitly) call upon that self-same shared experience even when protesting the company.
And what are people trained for today? To hit keys on phones and laptops.
That's what Westerners know. Not the assembly line.
That's why all politics became social media, and soon all politics will revolve around cryptocurrency.
That's what Westerners know. Not the assembly line.
That's why all politics became social media, and soon all politics will revolve around cryptocurrency.
https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1458124810077171715
Many say China can build infrastructure *because* they're authoritarian.
But the 1950s US was better at infrastructure while (ostensibly) democratic. And China under Mao was even more authoritarian, with far worse infrastructure.
The industrial base is now different, though.
But the 1950s US was better at infrastructure while (ostensibly) democratic. And China under Mao was even more authoritarian, with far worse infrastructure.
The industrial base is now different, though.
This may all be obvious, but I hadn't heard it before.
China can build stuff in the large, like public infrastructure, because it can build stuff in the small, in factories.
America cannot build stuff in the large because it cannot even build stuff in the small.
China can build stuff in the large, like public infrastructure, because it can build stuff in the small, in factories.
America cannot build stuff in the large because it cannot even build stuff in the small.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
