Mindscape 171 | Christopher Mims on Our Interconnected Industrial Ecology

Patreon: / seanmcarroll
Blog post with audio player, show notes, and transcript: www.preposterousuniverse.com/...
As the holidays approach, we are being reminded of the fragility of the global supply chain. But at the same time, the supply chain itself is a truly impressive and fascinating structure, made as it is from multiple components that must work together in synchrony. From building an item in a factory and shipping it worldwide to transporting it locally, processing it in a distribution center, and finally delivering it to an address, the system is simultaneously awe-inspiring and deeply dehumanizing. I talk with Christopher Mims about how things are made, how they get to us, and what it all means for the present and future of our work and our lives.
Christopher Mims received a bachelor’s degree in neuroscience and behavioral biology from Emory University. He is currently a technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal. He has previously written for publications such as Wired, Scientific American, The Atlantic, and Smithsonian. His new book is Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door - Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy.
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[@seionne85]

Love your podcast Sean, physics is my passion but trucking is my career. Thanks for all you do!!

[@RXP91]

Increases in productivity have been funneled to corporate profits, that's why hours worked don't decrease. Less than 50 people own half the world's wealth. Great talk!

[@StayPrimal]

You know its gonna be a great day when you wake up and Uncle Sean rang the bell during the night. Have a nice day everybody.

[@zaratustra00]

This one was really great and bring me to write the comment. Awesome to hear introduction to the new area like industrial ecology. Please bring more of these :)

[@danielm5161]

I like the UBI idea. Christopher said something that I often hear that I find confusing...he said something to the effect of "People will just sit around and smoke pot all day if they have no work". But then he also said "We need to work less so people can spend more time with family and community". Most people sit around drinking and/or smoking pot while hanging out with their family/community. Those two situations are one in the same for many families/communities.

[@chemquests]

Taylorism is why automation is good for people. Replace human labor on repetitive tasks so they can do more value adding and enjoyable work.

[@brunoteixeira6078]

Waiting for the episode to show up at spotify 😃

[@protoword10]

You just got very nice compliment from Sabine Hossenfelder professor of physics on her last video about double slit experiment! It’s only confirm my fellowship of your channel!

[@Mr123MTNDEW]

I have worked at different stages in different parts of the logistic network and many parts are very dehumanizing and go on the ideology of Henry Ford and the flesh and blood human machine. Humans are not meant to run to fail this is an absurd concept.

[@chemquests]

It’s highly unlikely that anyone is driving those conditions because they think it’s an optimal concept for human well-being. Ford showed it’s optimal for generating profits and we all seem willing to trade another person’s well-being for efficiently priced goods. Mining, for example, has never been pursued because it’s a great job for the employee, but there’s a lot of drivers to get that valuable stuff out of the ground. We can find someone desperate enough to do the crappy job. That’s why I think it’s disingenuous to call it exploitation because for that desperate person it may be their best opportunity (exploitation implies they are being taken advantage of vs making their own optimal choice).

[@at0mly]

miller - that's tiny brain thinking. if you take all of the land, food, and medicine and then tell people they have to work to have them then you can't try to claim it's a voluntary, optimal choice.

[@chemquests]

@@at0mly I’m saying it’s the best choice available to them, not that it’s the life they want. No one is taking all the stuff to create conditions for them to be compelled to a crap job. It’s a competition and the stuff is being taken by those best able to do so. Some compete to gain more, but more people compete to lose less. The ones that fall behind are getting picked off by the lions. I’m not saying we have a fair system but given the system we have, those who can’t compete will get crushed with bad options. My original point was just to clarify that well-being has never been the objective, so the concept of running people to failure is central not absurd. It’s a feature not a bug. That’s how we all get our stuff & have throughout history

[@at0mly]

@@chemquests Yeah and my point is that it's a terrible system and we should change it.

[@simesaid]

I'm a paid-up member of the Sean Carroll fan club, so I say this with not some small degree of reservation, but I just have to wonder whether or not the regular intrusion of advertisements into the body of this (otherwise excellent) show, is the _only_ way to maintain it's economic viability.

[@chemquests]

The filling of time created through productivity is called growth and is the objective for a business. I certainly want my investments to grow in order to fund my retirement & other goals. We can agree the soul crushing work should be eliminated, but I work very hard & proudly to increase productivity, with ideally no end in sight. If one doesn’t value up their labor contributions, it is highly likely they’ll be steamrolled by the machine; seems fairly obvious & inevitable. Haven’t we, as people, always thrown bodies at problems & big projects?

[@acridwolf]

The dignity of work commentary from folks so far removed from it is funny

[@DaveSimkus]

I partly agree with you. Almost every job I've worked at provided me with zero "dignity." In fact, working at Starbucks for seven years broke me down and I felt like I had less and less dignity each day. But I'm sure there is some dignity in work if it's something you enjoy and have control over. Like having your own business might feel dignifying or a job where you are left alone and can work your own way instead of being constantly chaperoned. And maybe even get variable compensation based on how much value you decide to provide in your own way.

[@amritsagarkar7899]

Hello sir. New here. My fortune I could interact with u although even if its by just comments

[@AnonymousuomynonA]

episode seems kinda sus for some reason

[@daithiocinnsealach3173]

Umwelt