When the first machine was invented, people thought workers could take it easy. But what happened? More factories appeared, the workload increased, and capitalists were all smiles, while workers still had to toil away. When computers first came out, we thought we could say goodbye to pen and paper. But what happened? Now, we can't even go to the bathroom without taking our laptops, afraid of missing an email. And don't even get me started on phones—we thought they would broaden our horizons, but our view has shrunk to the size of a screen. Many jobs are now completed with AI assistance, and tasks that used to take three days now have to be done in one. Keynes once said that by the end of the 20th century, technological advancement would reduce the average workweek to 15 hours, but maybe only the Nordic countries have achieved that.
And yet, with each decade our life becomes more convenient and less difficult. This is due to the introduction of scientific achievements, man-made machines make our lives easier and provide a certain comfort. I do not think that correspondence using carrier pigeons was a better form of communication than using today's mobile phones.
But the current reality is that humanity is divided by state borders and language barriers, the standard of living in different countries is different. But these are not problems of machines, these are problems of people.
This will continue until people become wiser and there are no idiots in power who, like Putin in Russia, in the 21st century wanted to seize and enslave the neighboring state of Ukraine by force, and therefore send millions of his soldiers to slaughter so that they kill their own kind. In this regard, instead of directing their efforts to making people live better, now the world is again arming itself and increasing the number of its armies, more deadly weapons are being invented.
But still, how much better life has become since the Internet, as well as tablets and laptops, appeared. Ask today's youth if they would agree to get rid of all this.