tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post1821611756275437637..comments2024-03-26T07:00:11.620-05:00Comments on Wisdom of the Hands: skills or cheap labor?Doug Stowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-5546976541386285832016-01-06T15:23:32.280-06:002016-01-06T15:23:32.280-06:00I'll also point out that the U.S. isn't Ap...I'll also point out that the U.S. isn't Apple's largest market. Revenue outside of U.S. is greater than inside and while the U.S. is currently the single largest country market, China is the fastest growing. In the relatively near term, Americans will find that they no longer dictate what gets made. Our power has always flowed from the fact that we purchase more things than anyone else - now that China is purchasing nearly as much, and soon more, they will be in that driver's seat.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-74075738137813112782016-01-06T10:45:55.562-06:002016-01-06T10:45:55.562-06:00I can assure you that Chinese students spend far m...I can assure you that Chinese students spend far more time sitting on seats over desks than their American peers often until 10 pm in the evening and seldom with any particular task in mind. Tim Cook is an industrialist who wants cheap labor, end stop. He wants skilled workers to work at the lowest wages on the planet. China supplies him with what he wants as well as the marketplace to sell his products in. The Chinese are more brand crazy about Apple, but in their minds, it's a foreign product. They have no interest in buying anything simply because it's made in China.Potomackerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02047837559244141708noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-70051370153524706272016-01-04T11:35:12.506-06:002016-01-04T11:35:12.506-06:00Steven,
Matt Crawford describes the craftsman'...Steven,<br />Matt Crawford describes the craftsman's use of jigs in his book the "World Beyond your head," and suggests that there are cultural jigs that sustain particular kinds of accuracies in processes. Having streams of upwardly mobile masses of folks wanting employment and willing to work at any price seems to work for Apple at Foxcon. The agency of the individual craftsman free to make decisions based on personal response to the materials and the environment are likely not what Apple would be looking for.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-85918808478733128192016-01-04T10:58:22.134-06:002016-01-04T10:58:22.134-06:00A few months ago I had a house guest from Shanghai...A few months ago I had a house guest from Shanghai. She had been in one of Foxcons factories in China where Apple products were built. She described it as human robots doing repetitive tasks, no skill involved, just mindless repetition. The impact on the workers was to her obvious. She did not see skilled workers, she saw mindless human robots. Perhaps Tim Cook is either uninformed or less than honest. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com