This 1960s Auto Worker hated his job. He felt like a robot. He felt that his job had little meaning and was unbelievably repetitive and boring. He said that he came home from work feeling like a zombie. And he didn't see automation coming - automation that would change his job forever. Change it for the better? Or change it for the worse?
Herbert Slater worked on automobile assembly line in 1964. He was an industrial worker who had not graduated high school. He bluntly described how he felt in this film clip. He felt a complete lack of connection to the work he was doing. He was trying to figure out a way to improve his life and his depression. He was not thinking about the coming of automation, AI, and the rapid changes that were coming as we moved from the industrial age to the information age.
Also presented in this clip is Edwin Land, the founder and CEO of Polaroid who was aware of these kinds of repetitive mind-numbing jobs and could see the coming of automation as having value for some and creating less available work for others. He and the management at Polaroid were trying to figure out what to do about this for their employees and for the company.
At the time, I was a young documentary filmmaker/cameraman and felt so good about my work. I couldn't see myself working on one of those production lines even though they had a secure salary and job. Those workers didn't think they could ever be fired (although a few hoped that they would be).
At the time, I also didn't see the coming of the information age and of information technology and of automation. So I recorded people like Herbert sympathetic to their situation but with no advice for how they could improve their lives and the lives of their families. I also did not know enough about depression to see just how depressed Herbert Slater felt.
From the video description.
I see you’ve met my mother