This Carbon Based Life

By David Glenn Cox

Well, here we are at Labor Day again. Officially the end of summer. Artificially honoring labor. It’s not taught about in schools. The battles and the murders and deaths are unheard about. The Dearborn Massacre, Harlan County Coal wars, the Pullman strike, the Colorado Labor wars. Or even understanding the Labor Day holiday was a sop to the American worker. Mr. Burns offering you a free keg of beer instead of healthcare.

Everyone knows the reason behind Independence day. We’ve all heard of Christmas. But Labor Day? Gee, I guess that’s like Secretaries Day or Boss’s Day or Hawaiian shirt day. “Good boy, good girl” If you never teach them about the importance of a thing. Soon they won’t care why, eventually not caring at all. Riots and pitched battles pitting the workers against the company. With the government of the people and by the people fighting against the people, always siding with the company. With the courts always joining in saying, “The people, us. Do hereby declare. The people, you, are always wrong.

Things we take for granted, like indoor plumbing they fought, suffered and died for. An eight-hour day, a forty-hour week, Workman’s compensation, basic safety equipment and practices. The right to join a Union. In a country made up of a Union of States, they tell you there is little value in joining a Union. The battle goes on unseen and unheard, year after year.

With computers and computerized automation almost making labor nearly unnecessary. You use your machine to order a product. Then their machine processes the financial transaction with your bank’s machine. Triggering the warehouse to send one of whatever to your house. The warehouse and the UPS man are the only humans involved. Doing the menial repetitive tasks, the machines won’t do working at the machine’s command. Never even knowing who the boss is.

Just an expensive, weak link in the logistics chain. Prone to sickness and family emergencies and the other anti-business behaviors. Big business is pushing for self-driving trucks and trains. Self-driving cars, Self-checkout. Free, do it yourself refills. See? It’s cheaper to just give the shit away than it is to hire someone to fill your cup. Download the app! Order ahead! Have it delivered! Like a computerized Rube Goldberg machine involving half a dozen supercomputers just to buy a cheeseburger. Issuing you an official customer number. Never forgetting you ordered a (Cheeseburger) once. Would you like to order another (cheeseburger) again today?

They know everything about you. Where you live. What kind of beer you drink and what you like on your pizza. What you watch on TV, everything. Just another slot in the matrix board. But sometimes inventions can become a threat to the existing status quo. The gas companies sued Mr. Edison’s electric company, trying to stop him. Spreading scare stories about the electricity leaking out as you slept and starting fires.

The stage coach was replaced by the train and the train by the airplane. But what do you do if your wealth is in oil? And their products are a threat to your livelihood. President Horrendous extolls the dangers and unsightliness of wind turbines. Every rotation of that turbine blade is natural gas not being burnt. During the last Gulf War Adventure, The Saudis and Kuwaitis were pumping overtime just trying to keep the price and supply stable.

But the electric car business is starting to bite. It’s not a fad, they aren’t going away. The top-of-the-line Cadillac is electric.  15% of the market is 15% less market for oil companies. And the future of fossil fuels looks poor but dangerous. Oil is like gold, a traded commodity. A world symbol for value losing its value. Russian oil is off of the market, and no one cares. Europe was going to freeze, they said! Today it’s no longer a concern. US gunboat diplomacy off the coast of Venezuela, unconcerned with upsetting the oil market.

Now look forward to another twenty or forty years when electric vehicles have more than half the market. Fossil fueled cars become more expensive as electrics become cheaper. Solar power has become plug and play. From starter kits to full home additions and it all adds up. Destabilizing isn’t the word for it. It’s a threat to humanity. All the geo-planning since the war has been set around strategic pipe lines and alliances and guarding major shipping lanes to keep that oil pumping. The oil will always remain valuable, just not as valuable or as important. Coal oil replaced whale oil and kerosene replaced coal oil.

An automated future where everything is brought to me in a cardboard box and left by my door. No human interaction with anybody. “I am a rock. Iam an Island?” A 12-digit code that says, “This is me! Damn it! ” Ordering from a giant machine with money I earned with my little machines. How far are we willing to go with this? Like Wall-E, everyone gets a big gulp and a hot dog riding around in a motorized chair.

It sort of makes me wonder about the point. Don’t get me wrong. It’s great that we have these things. But at what point does it become over indulgence taken past the extreme limit?

I worry about our king! It’s true! I don’t know if the world is quite ready for Vice Principal Vance yet. I wouldn’t mention this at all if not for a strange interview, I heard. The interviewer asked JD what it was like being one heartbeat away from the presidency? Especially with this old duffer here. You remember it because of the inappropriateness of asking such questions. Then you see the orange apocalypse looking pooped out like he spent the day with the five grandkids at Six Flags.

It makes you wonder? Insider talks perhaps? It’s news inside until they casually carelessly mention it outside. Why would they ask such a thing if they didn’t already know the answer? Was it a whoops? I didn’t mean to ask that? Did Mr. Trump just have a bad day at the office, or did Mr. Trolly start to jump off Mr. Track? Did anyone actually see him play golf? They said Eisenhower was having a root canal when he had a heart attack.

He’s stubborn. I’ll spot you that. That’s one of my favorite videos and always makes me smile. Seeing Trump climbing the White House stairs sick as a dog after telling everyone Covid’s not that bad. He won’t follow medical advice. We all know who always wins in the war between a crotchety grandpa and time. “Everyman’s death diminishes me” But some not by much.