Rediscovered MLK Speech Forewarning “Automation and Cybernation” Back in 1964.
Recently a “newly discovered” speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on December 7, 1964 in London, just days before he received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway. The speech has been published in video form by Democracy Now!, noting that the recording was made by Saul Bernstein, who served as European Correspondent for Pacifica Radio, and was recently discovered by Brian DeShazor, Director of the Pacifica Radio Archives.
Of particular interest is the discussion of technology in the context of eliminating jobs, that is, as a force acting to further separate the entitled sector from the rest of society. It is simply amazing to realize that this issue was recognized in 1964. Yet much of the technology that allows for automation is still a mystery to most people in fields such as Education and for most people in the digitally divided United States.
Below is an excerpt from the 1964 speech by Dr. King:
...So we can see that there is still a great gulf between the haves, so to speak, and the have-nots. And if America is to continue to grow and progress and develop and move on toward its greatness, this problem must be solved.
Now, this economic problem is getting more serious because of many forces alive in our world and in our nation. For many years, Negroes were denied adequate educational opportunities. For many years, Negroes were even denied apprenticeship training. And so, the forces of labor and industry so often discriminated against Negroes. And this meant that the Negro ended up being limited, by and large, to unskilled and semi-skilled labor. Now, because of the forces of automation and cybernation, these are the jobs that are now passing away. And so, the Negro wakes up in a city like Detroit, Michigan, and discovers that he is 28 percent of the population and about 72 percent of the unemployed. Now, in order to grapple with that problem, our federal government will have to develop massive retraining programs, massive public works programs, so that automation can be a blessing, as it must be to our society, and not a curse.
To what extent do you believe technology is contributing to “a great gulf between the haves and the have-nots? Given the jobless recovery, should we embark on massive public works programs now?
To listen to the entire speech:
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I'm not sure about your quotes -- and about u being a bot. I offered a vid of the FULL SPEECH -- very interesting.