Douglas Adams might just tell you the answer is, after much calculations, 42. But least anyone starts questioning whether I am one of those Marxist who didn't cultivate a head midlife, this is a good opportunity to shore up my impeccable Capitalist and Industrialist pedigree.

Communism: Statist Substitution of the Venture Capitalist & Capital Flight

My own genealogy includes being a progeny of South East Asia's first generation of indigenous (though some SE governments might object to the idea of being IndoChinese as being indigenous to any place other than Greater China) industrialist following the demise of French colonisation.

My dad himself started his manufacturing career as a soy sauce bottle lids maker. At the clan's height, this family firm became the supplier of ponchos and army boots for the localisation of US imperial war, aka the South Vietnamese forces who were being drafted to phase out the Americans in the early 70s.

This could have been an easy transition to mass manufacturing had the US not pulled out. In fact, the family firm had made their deliveries and the US government defaulted much in the same way all the US collaborators were left to face their own fate following the American's disappearance trick.

Thus when the northern Communists moved into the south, they issued some cadres to ask the firm's workers whom they thought were redundant to the factory. Since my dad was essentially the R&D and operations guy rolled into one, he was spared by his loyal workers. Plus they needed him to keep the machines running. He himself recalls the futility of keeping those machines running 24/7 as the tank rolled into the presidential palace one April day 1975. He would be made an underpaid employee of the very firm he founded, built from decades of his innovation and sweat, along that of others.

Originally the extended family firm, being typically overseas Chinese, would often employ most members of the clan and then dialect group before venturing outwards. And so they were large enough to absorb a workforce beyond familial confines. Still the core consisted of clan members.

Communism: Beheading the Capitalist

Nonetheless among the workers who reported to the cadres, it was concluded the head clansman, my uncle, younger brother and main partner of my dad, was redundant. Prior to the so-called "nationalisation" or "confiscation", my uncle was the face of the family/ clan's firm. Like many public services provided by overseas Chinese (one could still see this alive and well in Hong Kong), especially in colonies which didn't attend to the communities needs, schools and hospitals were sponsored by the wealthiest clans with their own head representatives. Essentially it was an exchange of social capital with monetary capital.

The clan head, like Hong Kong tycoons today, enjoyed enormous prestige and even political influence for they are/ have been the chief patrons and sponsors of essential services. They occupy core positions such as the hospital and school's chief executive director. So it was the case for my rather flamboyant, charismatic and smooth people mover and shaker uncle.

Thus when the Communist declared my uncle redundant, they required the whole firm to denounce him. Not only was his role being substituted/ usurped, there was the necessary need to expunge him from the clan's memory.

This kind of Maoist variation of Communism has its roots in the communal aspects of patriarchal Confucianism. The patriarch, especially with its seeming feudal roots, had to be destroyed body, spirit and memory, especially if the State were to take his place. I would learn of this incident decades later when it seemed safe to retell it. Despite the passing of decades, the pain was still very close by.

For his crime to humanity,  my uncle would be travel the opposite road, instead of pride and prestige, to shame and ignominy. Instead of having his name associated with servicing the community, his name was to be devaluated as a Capitalist pig and parasite. Instead of the capacity to open doors, he then was home imprisoned, watched every step by a lived in warden. He would in time developed ways to open door and channels of communication, enough to buy himself, his family, and via collaboration with his network, members of his clan, a passage out of such prison.

From a NeoLiberal perspective, it seems unthinkable that the venture capitalist should be extraneous and redundant to the factory. And yet with my uncle, who was essentially the firm's venture capitalist due to his capacity to attract investors and distributors, not to mention also with his vast network of contacts, important sourcing of raw materials, was deemed superfluous in a system that supposedly prioritised the role of the worker.

NeoLiberalism: Race to be First, When Survival Depends on BEING the Longest, not the Fastest

If under Statist Communism, the venture capitalist was considered unnecessary, one could conversely think the same for NeoLiberalists' mantra of minimum State and labour force. Ironically, under Communism, they ran out of raw materials and capital, with what was left in capital accumulation, they would drive out with boat loads of refugees taking with them gold and ingenuity.

Consequently, getting hold of THAT GOOD in Communism was tantamount to queueing up in post-war ratioed stores. It would take some time later, when the State had consolidated its hold in China and Vietnam, that they opened the doors to outsourcing and trading. But arguably like Germany, the State is never far away with its propensity to issue one permit/ licence after another.

On the hand, we do not question how NeoLiberalism is the half of the story. Specifically an grown shoot from the Cold War. In NeoLiberalism, everything could be reduced to being a race to be the first. Instead of an Arms Race, we have an Education Race, an Innovation Race, a Trading Race, even a Friendship Race. Like its colonial and imperial predecessors, NeoLiberalism is concerned with two irreducible production costs items: energy and the raw materials/ commodities needed to power the machines. It also needs to keep opening markets, moving deeper and deeper into realms that resist commodifications.

The nature of work that may be available to the human subject/ object/ sobject may well take us back to the world's first profession, selling one's body as the expense of one's mind. If as I type now, prototypes are being made for replacing a judge, there's no reason to question on its eventual implementation if we go by the logic of NeoLiberalism: reduce costs at all costs.

Post-Ism: Balancing THAT GOOD with THAT JOB/ SERVICE

Lastly, I should note only in passing for now, that I DISAGREE with tackling this subject matter with a reflex action along DIALECTICAL purging lines. This goes back to issues of Western versus Chinese metaphysics.

For now, I would like to suggest it has nothing to do with liberating the oppressors. I think the insights gained from Paul Mason's works are useful up to the point when he reverts to classic Marxist Statist position of overturning the ruling class (liberate the 1%!). Mason has interesting things to say about rediscovering Marx, especially given than Marx has written about machines even back then. His ideas about system externalities are useful if we cross-fertilise them with work already developed in Sustainable Design.

Until then, same channel, different time...

1. For prototype please refer to Andre Wesendonck on his https://www.researchgate.net/project/The-Brazilian-ROBOT-JUDGE-Automated-Decision-Making-System; as highlighted in https://www.researchgate.net/post/Stillful_and_Mindful_Learning_Is_this_the_way_to_combat_human_redundancy

2. Special thanks to Kees Hulsman's reference to THE JOB in https://www.researchgate.net/post/How_did_we_missed_the_evolution_of_IT_as_empowering_to_IT_as_enslaving_How_can_such_be_seen_from_Luke_SkyWalker_to_Harry_Potter_and_the_Hunger_Games

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PostCapitalism:_A_Guide_to_our_Future

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0399201/plotsummary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film)