Re: Rosser, computers and socialism

[Louis N Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 19 Jan 1996 ROSSERJB@xxxxxxx wrote:

> To Louis,
>      We got into labor training and capital investment
> because they were contained in the list of items in the
> quotation YOU provided from Nove about the things that

Alec Nove:

"A large factory, for instance, making cars or chemical
machinery, is an assembly plant of parts and components which can be
made in literally thousands of different factories, each of which, in turn,
may depend on supplies of materials, fuel and machines, made by
hundreds or more other production units. Introduce the further
dimension of time (things need to be provided punctually and in
sequence), add the importance of provision for repair, maintenance,
replacement, investment in future productive capacity, the training and
deployment of the labor force, its needs for housing, amenities,
hairdressers, dry-cleaners, fuel, furniture...'Simple', indeed!"

Louis:

Berkeley is correct. Nove does in fact refer to "the training and
deployment of the labor force." On the deployment question, this is
actually a key element of facilities managements systems. Columbia
University schedules all work crews on the basis of a highly
sophisticated computer system that I am currently working on.

Now, on the question of training. I am a "trainer" in the use of the
Internet. I was involved in training Nicaraguans in systems analysis
methodology. A machine will never be able to replace me. I just dropped
out of the Computers and Education degree program at Columbia's Teacher
College because one of the department heads believes that artificial
intelligence will be able to replace human teachers some day to a great
extent. I had such severe disagreements with him that I dropped out of
the program.

Finally, on the question of investment in future productive capacity. Of
course this is done with the help of computers. Did you actually think it
was done in any other fashion? Corporate executives use management
information systems to help in strategic planning. When I was in Portland
over Christmas, I spent time with an old comrade from my Trotskyite days.
This is what Nike executives pay him to do: design computer systems to
help them plan future productive capacity. No American Fortune 500
corporation does this on a "seat of the pants" basis.

Hope this helps.


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