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Name : Görkem Erem

Section : 71
Instructor : Özlem Vural

Eng 102 - Essay First Draft

Essay Question:

How has technology affected work until now? Explain by also referring to Russell. What kind of an impact

do you think technology will have on work in the future?

For centuries, people have sought for facilitating ways to increase their production rates and expend less

time on the production process with the help of technology. At first, they tried building tools that would aid

them to hunt efficiently, which would result in spending less effort on finding food. Thousands of years

later, they invented machines that would help them to produce much faster while spending less energy.

Currently, scientists are primarily working on implementing artificial intelligence into manufactory, which

is expected to result in a diminution in errors on the production processes arising from human workers. In

this essay I will express my opinion on how the drastic changes in technology affected work throughout

the centuries. In the first place, I’m going to argue on primitive societies and how they adopted technology

to their work life. Then, I will discuss The Industrial Revolution and its effects on work. Lastly, I’ll talk

about the current and future situation of the relationship between work and technology.

Before the beginning of the settled life, the definition of work was so much different from what it is now.

Early humans didn’t have to be in the office at 9 a.m. and head to home at 5 p.m. They had fewer issues to

think about in their daily lives. When they woke up in the morning, the only problem was to survive for the

day. Therefore, they were in pursuit of enough food to feed the family and try to hide from wild animals.

However, humans also had to defend themselves from external threats and had to find a new way of hunting

while the population continues increasing. According to Goudsblom (1987), the ability to handle fire is one

of the fundamental acquisitions of all human societies from prehistoric times. After the discovery of fire,

they became capable of protecting themselves from wild animals and harsh conditions of the surrounding
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environment. Nevertheless, as the society’s population increased, there was a scarcity of food sources. It is

stated that because increasing population made the hunter-gatherer communities less productive, there was

a need for a more sustainable food source (Boserup, 1976). Thus, they had to engage in agriculture in order

to feed the expanded population of the society.

In the 18th century, there was a huge changeover on the way producing society’s demands in Europe and in

the US, which is called The Industrial Revolution. With The Industrial Revolution, machinery played a

significant role on the production process, which was supposed to diminish the work hours and create more

leisure time. Furthermore, as there would be an enormous need for machine operators, it was predicted that

unemployment rates would decrease sharply. However, it was seen that there hadn’t been any major

changes on the unemployment problem throughout the 18th and 19th century. According to Russell (1932),

even though modern technology allows us to work less and have more leisure time, we still work too much

and have the unemployment problem. Moreover, The Industrial Revolution also led to the emergence of

different social classes, namely the upper, middle and working classes. Russell (1932) claims that the actual

issue about work is the unfair and unequal class division in the society. Until the 20th century, there hadn’t

been equal distribution of wage among these different social classes. People from the upper class were

considered as privileged because they were the owners of factories, fertile lands, and they also had a voice

in statecraft. On the other hand, people of working class were dependent on the jobs mostly provided by

the factory owners, who belong to the upper class. Regrettably, they weren’t treated decently by the

members of upper class regarding to the working environment and wage distribution. Consequently, people

of working class had to work harder in harsh conditions for little amount of wage and they were merely

making their living.

More than a hundred years later, in the 21st century, every aspect of technology has been developing in a

rapid way. The technology used in industry has become so advanced that human workers are on the verge

of losing their jobs. For instance, many car factories of well-known brands in Germany began to adopt

automation technology on the production phase, which means they don’t need human workers anymore to
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produce cars. ”We are approaching a time when machines will be able to outperform humans at almost any

task” (Vardi, 2016, Para.2). In addition, not only in industry, but also in different working environments

people are afraid of losing their jobs in near future to artificial intelligence. Vardi (2016) notes that if

machines do all the work, humans will be free to seek leisure activities, which is not promising a bright

future. If there will be no need for human workforce in near future, we can expect that millions of people

will start looking for low-paying jobs that doesn’t require any skill or qualification. Nonetheless, we

shouldn’t think there will still be enough jobs for everyone; thus, we might fear that people would start

committing crimes in order to survive in an environment where there aren’t enough jobs for humans.

In conclusion, my point in this essay is to emphasize my view on the major changes in technology

throughout the centuries and how they impressed work from prehistoric times to the 21st century. Millions

of years ago our hunter-gatherer ancestors realized that they could not survive if they would continue to

make their living with the same method. Therefore, they started farming to have a continuous food source.

In the 18th and 19th century, machines that work far more efficiently than human workers were invented to

increase the production speed so that swiftly increasing population of the world can be fed adequately and

continue to exist. Finally, in the 21st century it was recognized that with machines that have their own

decision-making mechanisms the efficiency of production can be escalated without consulting a human

mind. In my opinion, with the developing technology, human workforce is becoming redundant day by

day. I am frightened that we will wake up one day in a world where artificial intelligence is dominating

every aspect of life and there is no need for the human brain in any area of work and social life.
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References

Boserup, E. (1976). Environment, Population, and technology in primitive societies. Population and

Development Review, 21-36. Retrieved from:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/1971529?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents

Goudsblom, J. (1987). The domestication of fire as a civilizing process. Theory, Culture & Society, 4(2-

3), 457-476. Retrieved from: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/026327687004002014

Russell, B. (1932, October). “In Praise of Idleness”. Harper’s Magazine, 552-559. Retrieved from:

https://harpers.org/archive/1932/10/in-praise-of-idleness/.

Ruth, D., Boyd, J.(2016). When machines can do any job, what will humans do? Retrieved from:

http://news.rice.edu/2016/02/14/when-machines-can-do-any-job-what-will-humans-do/