My Review of "Automatic Society"

Worthy subject, bad thinking....

2 out of 5 stars

The author looks at how work has been de-humanized to the point of being just part of a society structured around, as he calls it, computational capitalism, a system where consumer consumption is the measure of success. And, we are ruled by "algorithmic govermentality."

Sure, automation has lead to less needed human work hours, and there is dignity to hard work, be it manual or intellectual. But, this is the way progress happens. The world is the healthiest (longest life expectancy), most educated, etc. By the way, video games require higher order thinking than reading (parallel vs sequential thinking). Not that one replaces the other, just that most everyone's brain is more capable of the creative and critical thinking the author thinks has been lost.

Bottom line, I think this book is misguided AND masked with words so pedantic, one needs a dictionary to read almost every page.

Portfolio "Update"

I sold my Chevron (CVX) and added General Mills (GIS). My portfolio, ordered by largest position to smallest....

WBA (Walgreen)
PG (Procter and Gamble)
PEP (PepsiCo)
HAS (Hasbro)
GPC (Genuine Parts)
MMM (3M)
T (AT&T
VZ (Verizon)
MAT (Mattel)
KO (Coca Cola)
ADP (Automatic Data Processing)
KMB (Kimberly Clark)
K (Kellogg)
IBM (International Business Machines)
SYY (Sysco)
HPQ (Hewlett-Packard)
CAT (Caterpillar)
DPS (Dr. Pepper Snapple)
CDK (CDK Global)
GIS (General Mills)
HYH (Halyard Health)
6% GNMA (Government National Mortgage Association) Bonds

This portfolio represenents about 25% of my assets, about 16% is a home mortgage, about 3% precious metals and collectibles, and the rest are CDs.