Introduction

Technorationality, a cousin of the monolithic conceptualisation of ‘The Economy’ as a special space, is a common theme in talk about work at the moment, especially in those horror stories called ‘The Robots Are Coming’. This vision of social and economic change driven by the inexorable march of technological progress has a certain appeal, based on ideas that progress generated by science, rationality and logic is morally and practically good. It also has a seductive charge for commentators on work, thrilled to be scared of a future where human workers are not needed. Luddite objections could be made: that this march of progress is not at all desirable. I am drawn to make a pragmatist’s objection: that this techno-dominance is a promise of a smooth, error-free future that is based on a pretence that software works, that IT delivers its promises, that putting a machine in the place of a human worker can be done smoothly without generating other kinds of work. It won’t break down or need routine repair work (software updates), and it will substitute for labour effectively. It’s not that I think new (computer) technologies have not and will not change work. But the idea I borrowed from Santos to think about an expansive present, rather than about an abstract future, and my understanding of the complicated effects of computerisation so far, makes me suspect that the promised future of automation (for example) denies the present complexity. It denies the expertise that make computers useable. The promises of tech are aimed at the present and are performative combinations of fear and seduction, creating beliefs in technocratic power and fear for jobs. It is also a seduction into a dysfunctional relationship, one where the ‘user’ is constantly updating and working on updated software, constantly having to make corrections in their own behaviour to suit the machine, and yet always believing that the machine is the one in the right, that they are lucky to be part of a relationship that brings them the glorious future right now. IT consultants who persuade managerial staff to re-engineer work processes around new, perhaps unproven, software or hardware, are agents of seduction. It’s clearly seen in managerial-bullshit ideas such as the pursuit of ‘disruptive innovation’, change for change’s sake.