Re: unsubscribing...

[Waistline2]

In a message dated 4/9/2004 1:01:20 PM Central Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >The real point to the introduction of the advanced technology is simple cost control-- closing X number of train control stations with X number of personnel and combining the remaining into a central office with fewer people.  Ergo the operating cost is supposed to be reduced.  OK, tough to argue with that-- but the capital cost goes right through the roof, and while the operating personnel drop, maintenance costs for the systems increase.<   Comment   Bingo!   The increase in the mass - density, of dead labor. The reduction of real wages in the world total social capital is an iron law, that often cannot be witnessed directly. This is so because for example - if the price and value of agricultural produce falls faster than commodities from the industrial sector, the working of the law of value is eclipsed - not visible, to the naked eye.     In the world of value this is value being driven in the direction of zero. In the world of flesh and blood labor power, this is called "the race to the bottom." Individuals and class sectors hit bottom in different ways and at different times at different velocities.   After about 15 years I learnt that all industrial machinery run in the same direction - that is on the basis of very simple laws or a law system. At this stage of the evolution of the technological regime, grafting computers, advance robotics and digitalized process on the existing pathways of the industrial process does not change the underlying laws of electromechanical production. Cutting, drilling, slicing and dicing still takes place and the inevitable "transfer bar" or mechanism to move a part from one station to the next.   Nevertheless the process is being revolutionized based not simply on the existing technological capability but profit motive, or rather property motive. The incremental increase in the density of dead labor is an absolute law of production.   And yes, it does make one quiet. There are less people to talk to.     >Are the introductions of these technologies the right thing to do? Absolutely. The problem is the technologies are not properly supported or utilized, and instead, regarded as a substitute "a thing unto itself."  Which is one more manifestation of the conflict between the means and relations of production.< dms   Hello!   Here is the property question within the mode of production. Karl Marx 101. The mode of production in material life comes into conflict with the existing social relations of production, with the property relations within.   Huuuugggh . . .the piece on oil was on target. Oil - petroleum, will most certainly run out and exists in a finite quality, because the earth itself is finite. The life of earth shall run out as is the case with our sun. The barrier we are hitting is economic - property, and the way private property has made us stupid. 750 million vehicles on the earth is stupid and the direct results of private property - the quest for money.   I did read Rifkin's "Hydrogen Economy" and if he is not being paid by the oil companies he is missing a paycheck. He positions the question of the energy infrastructure on the basis of bourgeois property.   Next, Rifkin will write a book on the "carrying capacity of the earth" and why everyone needs to die except him and his family. Those seriously concerned about overpo>instead, regarded as a substitute "a thing unto itself."  Which is one more manifestation of the conflict between the means and relations of production.< dms   Hello!   Here is the property question within the mode of production. Karl Marx 101. The mode of production in material life comes into conflict with the existing social relations of production, with the property relations within.   Huuuugggh . . .the piece on oil was on target. Oil - petroleum, will most certainly run out and exists in a finite quality, because the earth itself is finite. The life of earth shall run out as is the case with our sun. The barrier we are hitting is economic - property, and the way private property has made us stupid. 750 million vehicles on the earth is stupid and the direct results of private property - the quest for money.   I did read Rifkin's "Hydrogen Economy" and if he is not being paid by the oil companies he is missing a paycheck. He positions the question of the energy infrastructure on the basis of bourgeois property.   Next, Rifkin will write a book on the "carrying capacity of the earth" and why everyone needs to die except him and his family. Those seriously concerned about overpopulation should do the right thing and kill themselves and their family and help solve this problem.   A deeper question is what determines and regulates family size and population growth in the first place? Everyone knows how babies are made. What are the several factors involved in population growth?     Melvin P.