Notebook: Managers And Machines

The threat of cybernetics to jobs has been apparent for some time; not only factory-workers and clerks are affected, but also the “middle managers” (cf. Irving Howe’s “Cybernation: the Trauma that Awaits Us,” Dissent, Spring, 1962). Computers do indeed make business decisions faster, and in many cases better, than salaried functionaries.

It has not, however, been openly admitted that cybernation can replace, and in fact is replacing those who refe...