by Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
As for all those automated systems we have to navigate–do any of them work so well that those profiting from them actually use them? Of course not.
In Marc Andreessen’s memorable phrase, “software is eating the world.” Unfortunately, it now has indigestion. Software is running into limits that (non-engineer) promoters either deny or downplay. Meanwhile, back in the real world, software has a limited role in filling structural scarcities of physical goods and many services.
Consider all those apps which are supposed to be the epitome of automated productivity: if software is so great, then why do the apps need thousands of ghost workers to keep the kludgy mess semi-functional? Hidden behind the shiny happy facade of automated software wonderland, thousands of poorly paid humans have to do the hard bits that software fails to do or fails to do properly.