Justice for “Data Janitors” - Public Books
What is at stake in hiding the delivery people, stockroom workers, content moderators, and call center operators laboring to produce the automated experience?
Science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke famously declared that any sufficiently advanced technology becomes indistinguishable from magic. Today, the likes of Google, Amazon, and Facebook appear determined to sell us the dream that machines—drones, self-driving cars, and one-click shopping services—can almost miraculously fulfill users’ desires. But what is at stake in hiding the delivery people, stockroom workers, content moderators, and call center operators laboring to produce the automated experience? Between 2003 and 2007, I worked as a “user experience designer” at Google, a company…
saved by
related reading
- Why Is Everyone In Tech So Sad?noemamag.com
- The Automation Charadelogicmag.io
- After Automation | Everyevery.to
- Life after work | Mechanize, Inc.mechanize.work
- Notes on AI, Labor, and China - by Jasmine Sunjasmi.news
- Pluralistic: The enshittification of tech jobs (27 Apr 2025) – Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorowpluralistic.net
- Google Cabs And Uber Bots Will Challenge Jobs 'Below The API'forbes.com
- Alex Imas and Phil Trammell – What remains scarce after AGI?dwarkesh.com
- The Great Data Integration Schlep — LessWronglesswrong.com
- There Is No A.I. | The New Yorkernewyorker.com
- A History of the Future, 2030-2040nosetgauge.com
- How Silicon Valley’s successes are fueled by an underclass of ‘ghost workers’ | The Vergetheverge.com