Crowdsourcing a search for a specific essay/blog post

[T.Lex]

Hello INGO,

I'm hoping to leverage INGO google-fu/bookmarks for help finding a specific essay I read years ago on the internet. It was about 2005, I would guess, and the web was not as cluttered as it now is. I think I bookmarked it, about 3 PCs and 2 browsers ago.

The essay had a clear libertarian slant (not in a bad way). It was well written, well constructed, and elements have stayed with me. I'm particularly interested in reading it again, just to see how much is still applicable. I do not recall the author, but I think it was connected to a blogger.

Anyway, here are the plot points:
1) Generically vague causation of early dystopia.
2) The protagonists' father had warned of bad things happening, in a curmudgeonly, easily-dismissed way.
3) The various political/economic issues culminated in huge numbers of people being placed in gov't housing, eating gov't food, doing gov't-sponsored menial tasks (or just wasting the day away).
4) Until the protagonist was visited by representatives of a corporate(?)/diplomatic agency(?). It turns out that the dad had bought for his son an insurance policy, for lack of a better description. The protagonist actually had the option of relocating to a land that, instead of centralizing everything to combat the economic/political issues, decided to de-centralize everything as much as possible. There were certain rules that were basically libertarian. It was not billed as a utopia, but had a different set of issues, but did appear to be successful.

So, the conflict was whether to stick with the familiar and "safe" or move to the unfamiliar and risky. I honestly can't remember what choice the protagonist made.

Any of you all familiar with the story?

TIA,
T

 

[T.Lex]

Thanks, INGO! You rock!



Manna, Chapter 1, by Marshall Brain

Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna_(novel)

(Caveat: this is a "novel" if you think "novel" and "short story" are the same.)

Another friend who was involved in the same things as I was back in the day remembered a key element that helped find it. I must've read it back when it was serialized and only half way done or so. There's a second half that I totally don't remember.

Pretty compelling, though.

 

[steveh_131]

I gave it a shot for a few minutes but then I realized that I just don't like you enough to continue with such tedious manual labor.

 

[T.Lex]

hahaha

Touche.

 

[steveh_131]

Haha! No seriously I did look for a little bit but it was really too vague to make much progress. It looks like an interesting read, I think I'm going to check it out myself so I appreciate you sharing.

 

[T.Lex]

Yeah, believe me, if my friend hadn't tipped me off to the couple plot points I had forgotten, I would not have found it.

Its an easy read. In fact, it is too bad the guy didn't turn it into a real novel. At this point, it is almost more of a treatment or outline than a complete story.

 

[T.Lex]

Oh my.
Your next boss: A computer algorithm? - LA Times

Companies increasingly use learning algorithms to select job applicants and to evaluate employees for promotions and raises, so machine learning could make or break your career. In fact, in the future we'll often see workers whose boss is an algorithm, and they'll be surprisingly happy with it, because algorithms can be fairer, less egotistic and more helpful than at least mediocre bosses.

From the story:

At any given moment Manna had a list of things that it needed to do. There were orders coming in from the cash registers, so Manna directed employees to prepare those meals. There were also toilets to be scrubbed on a regular basis, floors to mop, tables to wipe, sidewalks to sweep, buns to defrost, inventory to rotate, windows to wash and so on. Manna kept track of the hundreds of tasks that needed to get done, and assigned each task to an employee one at a time.

 

[actaeon277]

How does the computer make sure you did your assigned task?
How does the computer instruct you in a task?
How does the computer deal with the unexpected?
And how long will it take for someone to game the system?

 

[T.Lex]

IRL or in the story? In the story, it has other employees check to make sure the work is done, like a real supervisor.

Its a pretty neat story.

 

[actaeon277]

IRL or in the story? In the story, it has other employees check to make sure the work is done, like a real supervisor.

Its a pretty neat story.

So, one employee verifies another. You scratch my back ....

 

[T.Lex]

If you think your boss is a stiff now, just wait five years | New York Post

I think it'll take longer than that, but ....

More than 8 in 10 managers say they spend a significant part of their day planning and coordinating work, 65% solving problems and related tasks, 52% monitoring and reporting performance and 45% analyzing and sharing information, according to the survey, which questioned 1,700 managers across 17 industries.

But in roughly five to 10 years, intelligent machines will likely be able to do many of these tasks more effectively than humans, says Bob Thomas, the managing director of Accenture Strategy. “We are entering a different kind of technological era,” he says — one in which robots play a much bigger role at work.

 

[T.Lex]

https://www.bloombergquint.com/busi...he-boss-is-an-ai-powered-algorithm#gs.L2bcFVE

The to-do list’s author isn’t human; it’s a piece of proprietary software that uses reams of data collected at the indoor farm to make important decisions: how much to water each plant, the intensity of light required, when to harvest and so forth. In short, Morich and her fellow human farmers do what the computer tells them to do.

 

[T.Lex]

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/articl...on-microchips-employees-uk-govt-says-it-would

Mandatory implantation of microchips for employees.

 

[BugI02]

Now go (re)watch Colossus: The Forbin Project