The giant retailer Amazon represents the cutting edge of a materialistic consumer society. It changed the marketplace by facilitating the quest for ever greater, faster and cheaper gratification. The desire for “always more” instead of better often leads to consumer frustration and stress, not happiness. However, Amazon also is changing the workplace. What happens on … Read more
All too often, people conform their lives to the machines they use. This adaption increased as the Industrial Revolution helped integrate machines into daily life. This development took a further step forward when the idea of robots first appeared in the early twentieth century. There were two visions of these new assistants. One was the … Read more
As we pulled away from the terminal getting ready for takeoff, the plane stopped fifty feet away. There we waited inexplicably for about a half hour before the pilot came on the speaker. He reported that the ground crew had pulled us away from the terminal but forgotten to free the steering mechanism of the … Read more
Few experiences are more stressful than looking for a job. Job-seekers are in the process of convincing others it is worthwhile to employ them, a kind of selling their skills, which is naturally a bit degrading. Accepting probable rejection, they are nonetheless offering much of their lives and selves. In this context, every rejection is … Read more
“When we function like our machines and computers we adopt habits outside our rhythms of our nature.” –Return to Order, John Horvat II Daily Life in a Frenzied World From the time we wake up and grab coffee from our automated coffee machine to the time we plug in our phone for a good nights … Read more
