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[PEN-L:28625] Re: Re: Drudgery


The Wall Street Journal today had a front page story about women
in Mali, whose use of mechanized grinding machines has given them
time to improve their lives and become literate.


What's the point of this? Did the cotton gin enable slaves to improve
their lives and become literate?
The application of machines to work is a complex issue, let's treat it
that way.


As I read Michael's post, the point was that Mali women's use of mechanized
grinding machines has given them time to improve their lives and become
literate.  No attempt to draw more general conclusions about the social
consequences of machinery, or to minimize the complexity of this issue, was
made.  Indeed, in light of well-known instances of less progressive
applications of machinery to work (e.g., the role of the cotton gin in US
slavery), this item serves if anything to highlight the complexity of the
issue.





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