Everyone finds justification for his or her views in logic and analysis, but a personal philosophy often emerges from some archaic part of the mind, an early idea of how the world should be.
George PackerRead
The invisibility of work and workers in the digital age is as consequential as the rise of the assembly line and, later, the service economy.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the overlooked significance of work in the digital era, suggesting it has profound implications similar to past industrial shifts.
George Packer highlights how the lack of visibility regarding work and workers in our modern digital age is a critical issue. Just as the advent of the assembly line and the growth of the service economy transformed labor dynamics and societal perceptions, the invisibility of workers today signals a shift that may reshape our understanding of labor's value and impact in society.
Themes
WorkInvisibilityDigital AgeLaborEconomy
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the future of employment, one might use this quote to highlight the changing landscape of work.
More from George Packer
All quotes βIdeology knows the answer before the question has been asked. Principles are something different: a set of values that have to be adapted to circumstances but not compromised away.
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At the heart of the matter is a battle between wish and fear. Fear generally proves stronger than a wish, but it leaves a taste of disappointment on the tongue.
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As America has grown less economically equal, a citizen's ability to move upward has fallen behind that of citizens in other Western democracies. We are no longer the country where anyone can become anything.
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Abstract sympathy with the working class as an economic entity is easy, but the feeling can vanish on contact with actual members of the group, who often arrive with disturbing beliefs and powerful resentments - who might not sound or look like people urban progressives want to know.
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Even while writing about foreign places, I have been in a way writing about America, because that's the subject that interests me the most. I'm attached to it, critical, but it's definitely my country, and maybe even more so when I'm overseas.
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