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SmartCap Measures Workers' Brainwaves Not Intelligence

You have all heard the phrase: "Get your brains tested." Well, perhaps it is mainly the older generation who heard it in their youth. However, some Australian workers are having their brains scanned.

Should These SmartCaps stay where they are - in the cupboard

They are wearing special baseball caps that measure brain activity. researchers are looking for signs of tiredness. It is fatigue that is the precursor to an accident. The problem is - are workers to be paid to have a rest? Of course, employers will say no. We could be heading toward a workplace rumble here!

Ironically the new device is called a SmartCap, when there is nothing intelligent about it. It certainly does not measure intelligence. When tiredness is detected an alarm goes off that everyone in the vicinity can hear. Are employees expected to lie down and rest where they are standing?

◆ Technology by Ty Buchanan ◆

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SMARTCAP NOT INTELLIGENT
baseball cap measures brainwaves read minds of workers employees employers work job articles news politics economics society anthropology historiography history sociology people nations country asia europe africa u.s. south america central Mediterranean eastern western interesting funny technology free news

Businesses Will Treat Young and Aged Employees Differently

With the federal government intending to lift the retirement age because of a shortfall in tax collections, businesses will have to adapt to a new employment environment. The reason given for the policy is claimed to be that the proportion of young taxpayers to middle-aged workers is declining. Of course, this a furphy. There is a shortfall now and the disparity in age sectors is a long term issue.

Older aged mature experienced worker employee

Government will have to subsidize the employment of aged people. Even if the government denies it, this will be necessary. Conditions of employment will have cater for the inability to perform at a high physical level. This is an area where the elderly will not be able to compete. The young will have to vacate their comfortable seats for those much older. This is obvious.

The young can learn from those with a lifetime of work experience, but what can these people learn from the young? Businesses should know that these groups will remain different and will have to treat them accordingly. Taking orders from a person seen as a young know-it-all upstart is not something the experienced will accept.

School leavers have workplace demands. A luxury the aged did not enjoy when they started work at 13 years old. They were treated as dogsbodies: carry this; go fetch that! Giving the young privileges will be frowned upon. If anything, it is the elderly who should get the benefits.

✴ Technology by Ty Buchanan ✴

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More Temporary Foreign Workers in Australia than Aboriginals

Australian immigration is not a level playing field. If you have money you go to the head of the queue. This has been known for years but seldom mentioned. As we all know, the free market solves all of the world's problems - what a load of cobblers this belief is. Such a large proportion of world wealth has never been in fewer hands.

Foreign tiler in Australia - no shortage of local tilers!

The idea that people from other countries are allowed in due to a skill shortage is also rubbish. Foreign workers are sponsored by abusive companies who give them jobs that Australians once did and underpay the slave labor.

A case in point is tilers in Sydney. People who cannot speak English work more than 60 hours a week for a pittance while Australian tilers now unemployed picket in the street. Over 100,000 new "skilled" workers are allowed in each year. Most of them duplicate Australian labor readily available.

"Get a job", the government says when it causes unemployment of Australian born workers. The point allocation system is secret. This is because it is manipulated to favor wealthy people and those who can be exploited. In other words employers make sure workers they get into the country cannot speak English.

What isn't commonly known is that 700,000 foreign workers have temporary employment visas. This means 3 per cent of Australia's total population are foreign temporary workers. This is higher than the Aboriginal population at 2.5 per cent.

✴ Society by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Privatization Is Not the Answer for Government

Australia is going down the same road as the British by privatizing public resources. There is a major problem with this economic theory. That is, that once resource are sold and the money is used to pay off debt it cannot be sold again. When railways, electricity and water are privatized they are no longer under public control. Ordinary people are at the mercy of private enterprise who have been shown to continually increase charges beyond what citizens can bear.

This is the cold reality of what the future will be like. Politicians of the right have put faith in private enterprise for a century or more. The trickle down benefits of wealth are shown to be completely wrong. The riches of nations is still being consolidated into fewer hands. The poorer are poorer still. Despite consumer goods being widespread, very few can afford a Ferrari. Millionaires have been superseded by billionaires. And the these consumers of all things monetary still want more.

When services are outsourced to the private sector there is one significant effect - wages and conditions get worse for lower-paid workers. Casual and part-time employment becomes the norm. The Premier of Queensland is stripping the public sector of "unneeded" departments. This has personally affected me. My son was dismissed after more than ten years of loyal service when his department was closed. Now the state government has to pay enormous costs to private industry to obtain these necessary service and the debt has not been reduced.

Like the nonexistent trickle down effect it is faith not economics. Some things still need to be kept in public hands. Are we going to have toll roads everywhere with road taxes payable to private companies? This will definitely not happen. Water supply is too important to be privatised. It is best handled by councils as local monopolies. The present experiment of having separate bodies manage water will fail in the end. It will go back to councils.

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Politics by Ty Buchanan

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The Part-time and Casual Culture

Despite the boom times in Australia which has finally peaked, a significant proportion of working Australians do not have permanent full-time positions. This is because both sides of politics have freed-up the hiring contract between employers and employees.

The claim that bank holiday and annual leave pay is included in the casual rate is rubbish. People are hired for a per hour fee. No moneys are set aside for rest day payment. Part-time employees can be called in to work at any time of the day or night.

Even in management the market is distorted. Tests to find the "ideal" personality to do the job have never been tested in the real world. They have been written by university people who teach and must write a certain number of papers for "respected" journals.

Governments are reducing employment in the public sector. When they have to get the work done in future by the private sector the real cost will become apparent. While contractors offering specific skills do well, many are not making a profit. Many private contractors, for example truck drivers, run at a loss. As they work, their debt to the banks increases. Ultimately they may have to sell their homes to clear their debt. Furthermore, they have to take drugs to stay awake because they drive day and night. In effect they are forced to break the law.

Today, production runs are getting shorter. This is due to improved production-line machinery. If the line is run for a few years the world market can be flooded. Restricting production by monopolies becomes a genuine profit maximizing policy.

The future job market looks spasmodic and uncertain. The forced superannuation policy of government will break down as the newly unemployed take early payments from their retirement fund to survive in the present.

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Conservation

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Ancient Buildings Were Constructed With Instruction Kits

How were ancient buildings constructed? They followed instructions of course. Archaeologists in Italy have found building directions on structures near Potenza. The actual identity of workers has been ascertained. Greek artisans contributed to the palace at Torre Satriano. Friezes had numbered feminine marks on them while cymatiums had male markings. Ornamental figures were replicated in molds.

It seems pre-Roman people had architects in their midst who looked to the past for inspiration. The buildings were notably Greek in character. Much of daily life even today derives from established ideas. The ancient builders must have had records kept for such purposes. So culture strongly influenced life in the past. The tried and true was the norm for society.

Until today people have resisted change. Indeed, many in our time are uncomfortable with the rapid pace of scientific endeavor. Will the Renaissance occur again? Probably it will when Mankind's experimentation runs out of steam. Then we will build, imitating great structures of times gone by. Perhaps we will do it by following some sort of set instructions.

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History

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Internet Puts Pressure on Jobs for Older Workers

The Internet is putting more people out of work and this is only the beginning. As more advanced algorithms are being developed established jobs are under threat. It will not only be lawyers and professional photographers employed by newspapers who get the chop. Unless you are in work that involves human problem solving like plumbers, mechanics and vehicle body repairers your job will face "extinction".

Most of the burden will fall on older workers. Retail, for example, only wants teenagers who can be paid a pittance while "training". Open discrimination occurs against people over 45. They are simply not wanted. This barrier age has fallen in recent years. Computerized job selection processes cuts them off at the beginning. Their resumes are not even looked at. If they go personally to apply for a position they face insulting comments and bad jokes.

Employers are no longer afraid of telling them directly that they are too old. Many have simply given up on seriously looking for work and they just do the minimum to justify payments from Centrelink.

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Economics

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The Aged Are Not Employed

Developed country are heading toward a crisis of not enough people to do the work. Baby boomers have reached retirement age and with such a large section of society no longer contributing there will be fewer taxpayers to fund economies. Government revenues will fall. Workers can only pay so much tax. Beyond a certain level incentive to work decreases.

Despite the problem, employers still persist in seeking young employees when there are plenty of elderly people who can hold down jobs. Old legislation covering those in public service force retirement on perfectly capable workers. Some Australian states are planning to change this.

The private sector has no restrictions. Many doctors, for example, work into their 80s. This is because they are self-employed, so they can decided when to stop. Fewer retirees are offering their service free in voluntary work. This means their lives just slow down and they spend their time doing very little. Their lives would be more interesting if they were given the opportunity to work.

Life expectancy has improved. There is no rational reason to refuse work to those who want it. The retirement age will be raised to 67, but this is ten years away. Governments are now heading into a funding crises. Australian businesses are bringing in skilled workers from overseas to fill vacancies that are really are not there. Government needs to give real incentives to businesses to encourage them to offer employment to mature workers.

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Society

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The Guilt of the Kill - Slaughterhouses

When you eat meat do you feel guilty about the early death of the creature? You probably believe that because someone else killed it you are without guilt. Buddhists are careful not to step on a blade of grass - those who really follow the Faith. It must be remembered, however, that even plants are alive, so there is no way you can avoid taking a life to obtain food.

Recently, Australia temporarily stopped the export of live cattle to Indonesia. ABC television showed a documentary showing cruelty to animals during the slaughter process. Some people have pointed out that cruelty takes place at Australian abattoirs.

Humans need food. Meat has more energy than any other food product. It is no wonders we consume it in massive amounts. Perhaps we cover up the guilt by calling cattle "meat" very early on in the slaughter process. For example, dead unprocessed chickens are called "whole bird products".

Feeling guilty about taking a life is a religious value. When something is dead it is just that - dead. If you do not believed in a hereafter that is the end of it. When a lion takes down its prey the pain endured by the victim is not a consideration.

Perhaps this double standard is due to people keeping pets which become part of the family and owners think that they must have an afterlife too. In evolutionary terms we are only just out of the savage stage. Neanderthals are widely accepted as falling into this category, though evidence shows they were just as advanced as us. Spearing an animal must cause pain, but to survive we must do it.

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Food