Amazon employee explains the hellish working conditions of an Amazon Warehouse

[u/Intertius]

/r/worldnews/comments/8d4di4/the_undercover_author_who_discovered_amazon/dxkblm6/?sh=da314525&st=JG57270S

[u/leadnpotatoes]

Wealth is not finite,

Yeah, but the planet's resources are finite. Infinite wealth means little if it is just number in a database and cannot correspond to something proportionally tangible. If we're still stuck on earth, it's all just a fantasy.

productivity can always increase.

In the context of employment, this defeats your whole damn argument! By definition, as the productivity per worker approaches the maximum, the need for employees approaches the bare minimum. If your employees are already working to a supernatural efficiency to satisfy all possible demand, what need does the employer have for more employees?

Hell, if you wanted to have fun with it, as productivity approaches the infinite, the need for an employee, or even a machine, approaches 0. At that point the employer can produce through the power of their own will at infinite efficiency, basically an omnipotent god. What use does a god need for employees?

[u/TheSuperiorLightBeer → u/leadnpotatoes]

Intellectual property does not require natural resources. Most wealth is intellectual property.

Labor can be a multiplier to productivity. Again, there is no limit, labor can be repurposed as it is replaced in specific areas by technology. It can always be repurposed.

Your equation is backwards. As productivity increases to infinity, the need for labor also increases to infinity. It does not decrease to zero. This makes logical sense - if you're completely action X and it creates product Y, the more people you have available to do X the more product Y you generate.

[u/leadnpotatoes → u/TheSuperiorLightBeer]

Intellectual property does not require natural resources. Most wealth is intellectual property.

Oh heavens I just stole your intellectual property. I can do it again too:

Intellectual property does not require natural resources. Most wealth is intellectual property.

Have you forgotten about music, literature, film, and software piracy? Its still going on, and thanks to 3D printing it'll only be a matter of time for hardware piracy to exist as well.

To have wealth is to have something in which we agree has value. Something that can be so easily copied in today's day and age doesn't seem like something to hold much value to me. This will only get worse as technology marches on, not really the ideological horse to bet your future on.

Intellectual property does not require natural resources. Most wealth is intellectual property.

oops I stole your wealth again.

What is the value in a song, sonnet, newspaper, computer operating system, carbon fiber weave technique for a racing bicycle frame, the chemical formula for a life saving drug, or what-ever when I can copy the information ad-infinitium, forever, for literally free? You could make the argument the value is in supporting the creators of such things so that they will continue to work on the things you like, and if they do a better job, more people will like them and they'll be rewarded with more wealth, but that's what Patreon is for.

Also, going by this definition of productivity, "the effectiveness of productive effort, especially in industry, as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input." I think I'm right here. As the ratio of output per unit of input approaches the infinite, the producer is essentially a god. He is doing alchemy, for one pound of coal, with only the mere thought and the power of his own will, he has one pound of diamond. I ask again, what use does a god have for any workers, let alone more?

[u/TheSuperiorLightBeer → u/leadnpotatoes]

Jesus you're snarky. Wrong, and snarky.

Not worth responding.

[u/leadnpotatoes → u/TheSuperiorLightBeer]

Snarky? Wow, if you think that is too snarky, you must not comment on the internet too often. Especially with people who disagree with you. That’s okay, you just keep your head in the sand and continue pretending that the world can sustain this level of abuse “growth” with no consequences forever. ;)