Tech Is Splitting the U.S. Work Force in Two
It is splitting our entire society in two.<p>There are people who work in the old economy, actually <i>doing things</i> in the world. These people are still &quot;tied to the land&quot; in a sense. Their income isn&#x27;t high enough to live alone, so they still maintain strong familial and neighborly bonds. Their work is physical (that doesn&#x27;t mean unskilled or low paid, just that it requires physical manipulation), and requires them to physically be in a specific location at a specific time. For the most part this refers to the interior US, so housing is cheap and they generally don&#x27;t have too much of a commute; they live and work in the same community. They have pride in a sense of place, and feel that they definitely &quot;belong&quot; somewhere because of this. They pinch pennies, compare prices, and generally are not overly wasteful. They might take <i>a</i> vacation once in a lifetime. These people are <i>not</i> poor, they just know the true meaning of a dollar because they are forced to physically work for it.<p>Compare this to the newly emerged technologically enabled upper middle class whose lives have become entirely abstracted from their physical existence. Our jobs are remote. Our &quot;worksites&quot; are mental abstractions. Our communities are digital. Our clothes are cheap and meaningless. Our connection to neighbors is nonexistent. Our physical location is arbitrary and changes based on a whim. Weekend vacations to Paris are a thing. We don&#x27;t acknowledge strangers on the street, and if you do <i>you&#x27;re</i> the insane weirdo. The result is two completely separate world views. A member of the former class simply cannot comprehend things like $14 sandwiches and $50,000 cars because it offends their sensibilities, not because they don&#x27;t have the money.