Robots Liberate the Workforce!
The Revolution understands people are more than instruments of capitalism, i.e., machines used to produce goods and services for the profit of a few and to increase capital necessary to sustain a system that ultimately regards humans as things and secondary to the creation and accumulation of material wealth. The Revolution knows with absolute certainty that humans are capable of extraordinary feats beyond our current understanding and imagination and intends to realize this untapped potential by freeing people from the enslavement of working robot-equivalent jobs.
Just as the term indicates, robot-equivalent jobs are jobs that are routine enough to be performed by robots. These are occupations that do not require or stimulate one's ability to discover, question, play, make new connections, learn, heal, teach, adventure, and expand. It is only because current management and distribution of resources requires that people work to earn their right to survive in order to sustain a system that cares little about their well-being apart from maintaining a healthy flow of human implements to produce capital that robot-equivalent jobs became acceptable forms of human employment and even regarded as natural or fundamentally human.[1]
This ubiquitous, underlying sense of urgency to provide for one's survival needs (and the survival needs of one's family) and the corresponding terror of being without coupled with a tacitly oppressive, cultural shame associated with not working has bred an ideal society for the uninterrupted production of human machines. Fear and shame are easily implemented, efficiently effective, and insidiously cunning emotional tools to fashion compliant people. The Revolution acknowledges the reality of these fears yet declines to substantiate any form of fear by realizing it as a basis to make decisions. Instead, The Revolution offers to create new venues that challenge existing fears and provide opportunities of expansion for all on this earth and beyond!
The simultaneous implementation of all Four Factions of The Revolution, with specific emphasis on Faction 3, address the generalized fear of robots taking all the jobs, putting people out of work and unable to provide for oneself and one's family. The basis of this fear is ultimately rooted in a belief that people are defined by limitation: that people have limits to what they can learn and create, limits in their ability to adapt and change, limited in their interests and motivation, and limited in their capacity to love and connect.[2] The Revolution knows there are absolutely no limits to human expansion. Humans are undoubtedly remarkable beings capable of realizing the impossible and have continually proven so time and time again. This is simply another opportunity to venture into expansion with a similar spirit of courage and enthusiasm!
To get you in the mood for robots liberating the workforce, have a listen to this lively song, "I Don't Want to be a Robot-Equivalent," from the 50 Weeks soundtrack.
[1]^ The Revolution recognizes and expresses gratitude for the comprehensive meditative gifts derived from robot-equivalent activities. Repetitive tasks that do not require complex thinking and/or demand a high degree of singular focus in the present moment provide invaluable modes of being that aid in the heightening of awareness. The ability to slow down, clear away thoughts, and silence the mind, or deeply contemplate, reflect, and deliberate, are most definitely human pursuits. The Revolution does not discredit these advantages but instead suggests that these qualities can be achieved through other means—like sports, exercise, or formal meditation—or perhaps by the same means but by choice. The Revolution understands that robot-equivalent jobs are pleasurable and relaxing to many. Therefore, robot-equivalent activities will still be offered as an option for meditative and pleasure practices. But for those who are enslaved and oppressed by robot-equivalent jobs—fixated on robotic behaviors as a compulsion or obsessively clean and organize as a way to avoid and escape—you may find some relief and freedom by employing robots. The Revolution pays homage to robot-equivalent jobs and also genuinely admires, as well as encourages, the ability to "make lemonade out of lemons." Yet, the time has come to move on and facilitate the continuous expansion of all on this earth and beyond by freeing people from the enslavement of robot-equivalent jobs in order to enable the creation of new forms and actions currently beyond our imagination.^
[2]^ There is also a fear of an eventual robot revolution, where subjugated robots decide they want autonomy and freedom (kind of like this revolution but minus the emphasis on autonomy, in the reactive sense). The robots unite and take over the world (usually in a violent or oppressive manner), enslaving humans. You've likely seen this phobia expressed in books and films. To help ease this fear, The Revolution is steadfast to not endorse AI (Artificial Intelligence) designed to mimic humans in appearance, psyche, and/or emotions. The Revolution does not understand this endeavor apart from it being a godlike exercise in vanity, which achieves little besides perpetuating a fear of robots. For a delightful essay written over 40 years ago hypothesizing that people will respond with revulsion towards robots that simulate, yet fail to attain, a human like appearance, read The Uncanny Valley. As Masahiro Mori cautions, don't "tumble down the uncanny valley"!^
