Should the world be taught to slow the fuck down?

[Cellmold]

Seriously, should it?

I watched a Panorama episode recently on BBC 1 about the conditions of working at Amazon which you can see here if you wish:

But that's just the catalyst for this thought and whether or not you think the video used biased evidence and that such work is necessary and not too bad is irrelevant to my point and I've posted my perspective there anyhow, which has been around in my mind for a while.

Basically I see far too many of a our jobs, services and...well way of life as being at the behest of each others lack of patience and demanding natures. This seems to have a knock on effect, ever rumbling down the line from person to person. Essentially it trivialises and demeans people at the bottom end of workplaces and services. In fact even those higher up often find themselves enslaved to their own systems of commerce and trade as they demand and are demanded of again and again....and it is always easier and more financially viable in the short term to be complacent to others demanding natures, than to ask them to be more patient and considerate.

If one person purchases something from a service, then the service has to provide that something, but then of course the person who bought it could be demanding that their service be provided on time, perhaps because THEY themselves find their time being demanded of in itself. Then the provider of the service is then forced to put pressure on it's workers to provide quicker lest they find themselves negatively impacted in some way.

It might even be the more obvious situation that the service provider itself is demanding more speed to make money faster.

I know this is not a new point....one of issues of greed and selfish demand. But knowing about it doesn't necessarily present a solution, especially if people become indifferent and accept such mentalities as a given.

But how would you go about changing this issue? Would it be better to try to educate people slowly but surely on the subject and introduce evidence to the health risks and damage this causes for all involved? Is it just a facet of human nature and thus will always be there?

The only services I see as obviously needing some pressure in terms of speed is of course those of health and safety. For example a dying heart isn't demanding of it's own will after all.

Maybe I am just a naive child, but this has always seemed intrinsically bad for human beings to me.

 

[Standuble]

Telling the world to "slow the fuck down" is no easy task when it goes against the well-being of so many on every level of the system (and against the very thought process of our good friends the TJs who would see such a request as an invitation toward inefficiency). I think the way it is going the system would eventually become so fast that any acceleration becomes near negligible anyway and it will plateau at a certain speed. What that will mean for competition I cannot say.

You could follow the bottom-up social model where the idea of "taking things slow" is preached and let it slowly diffuse up the chain. If the customer takes the purchase of an object slower or is happy to wait a while for it then the supplier needs not rush. They only need to ensure they still turn a profit. Whether such a thing could permeate every level of society without societal decay is not for me to say.

I think if 3D printers manage to evolve they could alleviate the process in their own way. For example if they were able to make a product locally in half the time and at a tenth of the cost it takes to produce and ship from China, stock in warehouses, be retrieved and then delivered then at the very least a lot of the complex layers required to manage a consumerist society will become less necessary. A company can have their items with far fewer people on a global scale having to slave away at the bottom (though those people will probably be out of work).

Alternatively the mechanised route can be pursued. If they cannot make Amazon and Argos warehouses more efficient in their cataloguing then could they not automate their factories instead? I'm thinking in terms of the future here and not so much present day technology but they could build factories which use automated arms, conveyor belts or even use robots or droids to do the work for them. If the hard work is now outside the human realm then humans can relax a little whilst maintaining their fast requirements.

 

[gromit]

Yeah I don't know in terms of worldwide... but at least we can slow down in our own lives and set boundaries so we aren't as easily dragged into the hustle and bustle unless we want to be!

 

[WhoCares]

Telling the world to "slow the fuck down" is no easy task when it goes against the well-being of so many on every level of the system (and against the very thought process of our good friends the TJs who would see such a request as an invitation toward inefficiency).

Not true. I'm an advocate for a slower pace of life. Efficiency isnt about speed. Its about effort expended versus results. Timeliness to a TJ is just about not waiting for prompting before completing. Its the lack of internal drive that sends TJs up the tree.

I actually agree with the original premise. In that this instant life leads to a breakdown in quality of life and will eventually be our destruction. I notice the lack of boundaries present in my current career stemming from my employer now which did not exist 10yrs ago. My employer thinks its perfectly okay to contact me on days off outside duty hours and even during annual leave with its neverending stream of demands on my time. And I actually work a walk-in, walk out type job where the job ends on sign off. I cant imagine what is going on with salaried individuals who have longterm projects. It must be hell.

But I think our level of impatience actually stems from our divorce from the cycle of life which all other species adhere to. We think we control environments, conditions and situations with our technology. The reality is we control a lot less than we think we do. Weather patterns do their own thing, evolution continues on without our help, nature does what nature does. The only thing we really control is each other and technology enslaves us as much as it liberates us. The internet and mobile phones have now made it possible for our employers to intrude into our personal space anytime they choose. Their example set, we also think its perfectly okay to make unreasonable demands on others, with the logic of its happening to us so we may as well get on the bandwagon. So the only thing left to do now is create an army of slaves to replace us so we can get back on the top of the food chain again and be the puppet masters we think we have the right to be. My question is though, once we create plastic people with the same level of dexterity, intelligence and ingenuity as us, do we really think we will stay on top of the heap?

 

[Standuble]

[MENTION=16264]WhoCares[/MENTION] - Thanks for clearing that up. I did have my reservations about adding that part as the possibility existed I had come to the wrong conclusion.

 

[Cellmold]

Not true. I'm an advocate for a slower pace of life. Efficiency isnt about speed. Its about effort expended versus results. Timeliness to a TJ is just about not waiting for prompting before completing. Its the lack of internal drive that sends TJs up the tree.

I actually agree with the original premise. In that this instant life leads to a breakdown in quality of life and will eventually be our destruction. I notice the lack of boundaries present in my current career stemming from my employer now which did not exist 10yrs ago. My employer thinks its perfectly okay to contact me on days off outside duty hours and even during annual leave with its neverending stream of demands on my time. And I actually work a walk-in, walk out type job where the job ends on sign off. I cant imagine what is going on with salaried individuals who have longterm projects. It must be hell.

But I think our level of impatience actually stems from our divorce from the cycle of life which all other species adhere to. We think we control environments, conditions and situations with our technology. The reality is we control a lot less than we think we do. Weather patterns do their own thing, evolution continues on without our help, nature does what nature does. The only thing we really control is each other and technology enslaves us as much as it liberates us. The internet and mobile phones have now made it possible for our employers to intrude into our personal space anytime they choose. Their example set, we also think its perfectly okay to make unreasonable demands on others, with the logic of its happening to us so we may as well get on the bandwagon. So the only thing left to do now is create an army of slaves to replace us so we can get back on the top of the food chain again and be the puppet masters we think we have the right to be. My question is though, once we create plastic people with the same level of dexterity, intelligence and ingenuity as us, do we really think we will stay on top of the heap?

I like your thinking.

Even the plastic slave people part, probably the next issue to consider.

 

[skylights]

Yes, I agree we should slow down. It becomes the "rat race" otherwise.

I always find myself thinking of a little old village, and how things would operate there. Sort of like a funny little utopian microcosm.

 

[Elfboy]

I think whether or not people need to slow down depends on the individual (some people definitely need to, other people need to speed up cuz they're lazy and need to get off their ass. )

one thing's for sure though: people need to learn to chill the fuck out