ABSTRACT
IF TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT IS ITSELF inherently progressive, as suggested by the dominant image, then increasing human productivity through such exciting new technologies as CAD/CAM should be noncontroversial. Any short-term displacements of human labor will be far overshadowed by general improvements in the welfare of society, including the availability of pleasurable work. However, if technological development is inherently oppressive, then automation is simply another example of the exploitation of workers through technology. Increasing human productivity really means replacing some people with machines while making everyone else work harder. Both interpretations draw a sharp distinction between the human and the machine, treating human workers entirely as sources of labor and machines entirely as forces with which humans have to contend. ‘Productivity’ thus becomes something attributable entirely to humans, such as the output of human labor per unit of time.
