In 1987, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Solow made a stark observation about the stalling evolution of the Information Age: Following the advent of transistors, microprocessors, integrated circuits, and memory chips of the 1960s, economists and companies expected these new technologies to disrupt workplaces and result in a surge of productivity. Instead, productivity growth slowed, dropping from 2.9% from 1948 to 1973, to 1.1% after 1973.
The particular qualities of the machine itself are practically irrelevant. It doesn’t matter what the machine does, what inherent qualities it has. What matters is the relation it has to workers and the capitalists.
“Machines were the weapons used by the capitalists to quell the revolt of specialized labor”
– some blurry guy