Have you ever watched a blacksmith or potter or glass-blower at work?
I watch with utter fascination. What a magnificent set of skill, knowledge, creativity.
When you make something from start to finish like that, there is a little piece of you in that thing. You are passing your skill and creativity along to someone else.
Karl Marx observed workers at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the early 1800s. He theorized something he called alienation. Humans had become alienated from the output of their work. As factories multiplied and grew, most of humanity was no longer involved in this combination of skill and creativity in the production of something useful or beautiful for someone else.
I thought of that today while listening to Cal Newport’s latest podcast. (https://thedeeplife.com episode 329 not posted yet, you can find on Overcast or your podcast app of choice)
He studies life in a digital world. Humans working at a computer pushing messages over digital networks are alienated from the eventual product of the organization—indeed, even if they know what it is and how it serves the market.
That thought had never really sunk into my consciousness. Of course, much of my digital work does have a direct impact. Those who work in larger organizations, though just perform a role which is one of hundreds just pushing bits through a wire.
Can we think of a better way to organize work?
