it's probably futile, and the 'AI/art protests' seem to miss the point that the protest itself is also encouraging The Man to seriously consider AI-powered replacement.
The protest itself is exactly the kind of thing that will be avoided by replacing humans, demonstrated writ-large for the people with the cheque-book.
I can understand the spirit of protest and why it occurs, but it just seems so out-of-line strategically/tactically when used against automation that's taking jobs.
Just the order of events is kind of funny to me, and this applies to automation-job-taking protest the world over : A technique is demonstrated that displaces workers, the workers then picket and refuse to work -- understandable, but faced with the current prospect of "This mechanism performs similar work for cheaper", it seems counter-productive to then demonstrate the worst-case-scenario for the patron : a work stoppage that an automated workforce would never experience, alongside legal fees that would never be encountered had they an automated work-force.
That all said, protest is one of the only weapons in the arsenal of the working -- it just feels as if the argument against automation is one of the places where that technique rings hollow.
In the case of media/movies/literature/etc, I think the power to force corporations to value humans is solely in the hands of the consumer -- and unfortunately that's such an unorganized 'group' that it's unlikely they will establish any kind of collective action that would instantiate change.
The protest itself is exactly the kind of thing that will be avoided by replacing humans, demonstrated writ-large for the people with the cheque-book.
I can understand the spirit of protest and why it occurs, but it just seems so out-of-line strategically/tactically when used against automation that's taking jobs.
Just the order of events is kind of funny to me, and this applies to automation-job-taking protest the world over : A technique is demonstrated that displaces workers, the workers then picket and refuse to work -- understandable, but faced with the current prospect of "This mechanism performs similar work for cheaper", it seems counter-productive to then demonstrate the worst-case-scenario for the patron : a work stoppage that an automated workforce would never experience, alongside legal fees that would never be encountered had they an automated work-force.
That all said, protest is one of the only weapons in the arsenal of the working -- it just feels as if the argument against automation is one of the places where that technique rings hollow.
In the case of media/movies/literature/etc, I think the power to force corporations to value humans is solely in the hands of the consumer -- and unfortunately that's such an unorganized 'group' that it's unlikely they will establish any kind of collective action that would instantiate change.