The evolution of automation and the shrinking role of capital

“As production ‘demassifies’ and is itself commodified we see Capital trying to capture and enclose–in a rather desperate scrambling fashion–other forms of value; IP. We see this general assault on the First Sale Doctrine and the rights of the consumer through the exploit of copyright law. We see companies obsessing over brand identity as if it was a kind of virtual real estate because the real stuff they make doesn’t seem to matter anymore.”

By Eric Hunting:

“The evolution of automation is not just about machines getting smarter but also more adaptive, smaller, lower in minimum necessary production volumes, lower in tooling overhead, and–most importantly–cheaper. The trend is hidden because we’ve put so much production out-of-sight in other countries, but it is now evolving from something done in a large distant factory to something increasingly local and, ultimately, integrated into the built habitat like a public utility. And that means capital is being obsolesced as readily as human labor. It also means that the long-term trend in global trade favors commodities over finished goods.

We can now initiate more kinds of production out-of-pocket or with small, personal scale, capital than ever before. The number of things you can’t competitively manufacture in the space of a 4 car garage is slowly-but-steadily shrinking. Most consumer goods are already produced in job shops rather than factories. The traditional factory is already an anachronism and a steadily increasing number of ‘manufacturers’ are divesting in their own ownership of production because old-fashioned big capital and its 20 year amortizations are a drag on competitiveness. The next Apple will be a company of some mere dozens of people whose primary job is designing products and managing their ‘spimes’. They will need venture capital about as much as they need keypunch operators.

So as production ‘demassifies’ and is itself commodified we see Capital trying to capture and enclose–in a rather desperate scrambling fashion–other forms of value; IP. We see this general assault on the First Sale Doctrine and the rights of the consumer through the exploit of copyright law. We see companies obsessing over brand identity as if it was a kind of virtual real estate because the real stuff they make doesn’t seem to matter anymore. I think automation is catalyzing a complex change in and of itself.

The hand squeezes tighter the more it feels its grip beginning to slip…”

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