Technology and Human Labor

echnology is very helpful and it makes so many things in life a lot easier to do. But it can be a bad thing at times as well. Technology keeps advancing; something could eventually be created that lessens the need for human labor.

Kurt Vonnegut wrote Player Piano in 1952, which is a novel about Technology taking over the need for human labor. U.S. society was over looked by the engineers and other people that created the technology (42). Humans were given everything they needed, and they did not have to work. You would think people would like being able to do whatever they wanted and not have to work. However the people in Player Piano did not like this. They got bored and restless (76). So Paul, a member of the lower class, leads a revolt against the engineers ( 153). Vonnegut wrote Player Piano based off the fears that many people had after WWII.

This novel gave me the idea for my topic. What impact has technology had on human labor? In the future, is it possible that the U.S. Society will become so technologically advanced that there will be no need for human labor?

A technological advancement that was created is assembly lines. Assembly lines were created in 1908 by Henry Ford. This machinery increases the production of automobile parts. Automobiles were being made at a faster pace. But assembly lines reduced the need for human labor which caused some job loss.

Technology will never be able to fully take over the need for human labor because technology isn’t flawless. Computers crash, batteries die, and any type of technology can break easy if it is dropped or misused. So people will always have some sort of jobs that technology cannot replace because when these things happen, people that help create technology and anyone in the working force will have jobs fixing the technology that is created. Mechanics are there to repair cars when they break down or when something go wrong, computer technicians fix computers that crash. Human labor will always be needed. Technology makes thing so much easier and more efficient but it cannot fix itself, so if anything goes wrong, workers will there to fix it. Also people are always changing and so are there demands. So there will always be the need for new thing to be created that keep up with the demands of a changing society.

Leo Marx, author of Technology: The Emergence of a hazardous Concept is about things that go wrong with technology. Marx discusses how technology is a threat to society because people have turned technology into something apart from people who people who invent it. He sees technology as something that is outside of society’s control. He is concerned that technology is being way to advanced. He is afraid that technology is going to get way out of control for our society to handle (13).

Why are people so worried about technology if it is supposed to be there to make our lives easier? Technology breaking can be frustrating.

Technology may lessen the need for human labor but it will never take over the need for it. Like the working in Player Piano, workers is the U.S. society would not be able to live idle life without work. During World War II there inventions that made the production of clothes happen faster because the fabric and cloth could be spun faster (Freeze 249). A lot of people found this invention useful and they were happy that things were being produced faster ( Freeze 250). People did not mind that it lessened the need for human labor because it was efficient.

The invention of new technology for the purpose of making life more efficient is all bad because even if the technology does lessen the need for human labor it will never completely to replace human workers because people will always have to replace or fix the technology.