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“Life is meaningless”

Submitted by Peter Cox on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 04:03

“Life is meaningless,” said Ah Wei, his fingernails stained black with the dust from the hundreds of mobile phones he has burnished over the course of a 12-hour overnight shift. “Everyday, I repeat the same thing I did yesterday. We get yelled at all the time. It’s very tough around here.”

  • 80% of assembly line workers work standing up, sometimes 12 hours a day, 6 days a week
  • 86% of workers live in dormitories with 8-10 per room
  • Making friends is hard since they are not allowed to chat on the line

Funny, I didn't hear Steve Jobs talk about these particular features of his super-duper new iPhone 4G the other day. 

In publishing, we're supposed to be, oh I don't know, a little more thoughtful about issues such as these, aren't we?  Funny, but all I'm currently hearing is pretty superficial fanboy-style trashtalk about the new iPad. Where's our social conscience gone?

News reports increasingly suggest the workers themselves are becoming restless.  I predict we're approaching the end of the cheap labour era...

Photo by jurvetson

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Comments

I agree. It's not like I

Submitted by johnysmith09 on Mon, 09/12/2011 - 10:38.

I agree. It's not like I chose to question everything in my life, it just happened. Once the thinking and discovering switch gets flipped in our brain there is no turning it off. I know for a FACT I would be happier living in ignorance but it's too late...Best Of time Rolex Watch

These are just silly word

Submitted by jonhudson89 on Fri, 08/19/2011 - 11:25.

These are just silly word games. Life is not simply a language. It really has no 'meaning' and so what? This is not a bad thing!!! Life is a profound experience!! Those who are obsessed with somehow decoding life and finding its 'meaning' surely must either have a lack of the experience of life or have repressed it for some reason.
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Ya very true. Sometime i get

Submitted by wilfordcimo (not verified) on Tue, 07/26/2011 - 06:39.

Ya very true. Sometime i get confused about we wrok to live or we live to work!! Human life has become machine now. Its really good post. Thanks for this. I really appriceate your effort. Good job. And thanks for sharing. personnel carrier washington dc

 

Such work can make life

Submitted by Michaellbarbosa... on Mon, 05/09/2011 - 13:16.

Such work can make life really meaningless... So much can sometimes cause mental depression too. adult playing cards

I think the working

Submitted by johnyb (not verified) on Thu, 05/05/2011 - 08:13.

I think the working conditions are bad. But China is coming forward by it's marketing strategies.

China is spreading it's market all over and can soon become the largest IT industry

Thanks for this interesting post...

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Not long ago I watched one

Submitted by Violet on Sat, 03/05/2011 - 15:22.

Not long ago I watched one bbc documentary Made in China (watch it, it is very interesting. Here is the torrent of it: http://bytesland.com/view/Made-In-China-2 ). In this film the workers worked the way you described in this post. I think for a person it is very difficult to stand it. Life becomes really meaningless. But I don't think it will last for a long time. I agree with the author that we are approaching the end of the cheap labour era. People in China are very well educated, R&D department in China is the largest in the world, soon China will be producing IT products with large added value and then the era of cheap labour in China will come to its end.

Life IS MEANINGLESS QUOTE

Submitted by Anne Booth (not verified) on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 13:01.

I feel shocked and depressed by this report of the bad working conditions experienced .

Life IS MEANINGLESS QUOTE

Submitted by Anne Booth (not verified) on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 13:00.

I feel shocked and depressed by this report of the bad working conditions experienced by makers of the new apple mobile - I love my Apple Mac and associate Apple with creativity and innovation, not old fashioned inhuman exploitation. I hope they can show us that working conditions are acceptable.

LIFE IS MEANINGLESS QUOTE

Submitted by Anne Booth (not verified) on Wed, 06/09/2010 - 12:57.

I feel really shocked by this piece. I am typing on an Apple Mac at the moment, and it is depressing that this innovative and creative company appears to be linked with suhc terrible working conditions.

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