Homework

           As a veteran campervanner, I have been amused by the naïve enthusiasms of this summer’s crop of newbies, many of whom are reluctant staycationers. There has been an explosion in demand for all things camping – from humble tents to monster motorhomes – and a consequent congestion of facilities. But next week, when the holiday season subsides, it will be my turn to experience the wild western coasts of Wales and Scotland in relative seclusion. I know this sounds smug, but the fact that my choice of leisure time is relatively unconstrained means that the joy of travelling off-peak has become my norm.

          Of late, commuters have had a taste of this more relaxed way of living because of the pandemic. Indeed, many will end up with more flexible life timetables (school holidays excepted) and may be permanently working from home, holiday resort, country retreat, campervan, motorhome, yacht, barge or wherever. And not before time. The technology required to enable this has existed for a few years. What was preventing it was lack of impetus and imagination. The prevailing economic system has become a fait accompli. The pandemic, however, has necessitated some changes, working remotely being one of them, and questions are being raised about what to do with soon-to-be-redundant office blocks, department stores and commuter-oriented infrastructures, the physical manifestations of the way we have lived and worked for generations. There could be some radical changes ahead, some of which are envisioned in Economic Science Fictions, a collection of writings that pushes the boundaries.

          In one piece, a writer re-imagines the story of the mythical Ned Ludd. Ned smashed the mechanised loom not to preserve weavers’ jobs but to save their lives, having witnessed how dangerous the machines were and how little the owners cared for the workers’ welfare. But he also saw the wealth-generating capability of machinery and, eventually, built a sufficiently popular following to wrest ownership and transfer it to the workers. It was the start of Luddism, a movement that embraced and adhered to the principles of Utilitarianism and Human Flourishing, by which means it prevailed as an uncorrupted version of communism. The result was that the extra wealth produced was more evenly distributed and technology, having been freed from the narrow, short-term imperative of private profits, made huge advances for the benefit of humanity. During the 1830s, the analytical engines developed by Charles Babbage and Lady Ada Lovelace were adapted to run production lines. Twenty years later, most households had a personal analytical engine and, during the 1910s, ‘garden printers’ were available, enabling manufacturing at home rather than in factories. Supporters of private ownership continued to object but, by 2095 the ‘hoarders’ as they were known, were living in the asteroid belt, scavenging and harrying interplanetary supply ships. But all this is wishful thinking, intended to highlight the drag that the current economic model has on progress. Luddism didn’t prevail. Both the wealth generated by technology and the focus of its future development remain in the hands of the few, not the many. Most people still work for a boss, even if some do have the benefit of working from home.

          Perhaps the best of both worlds is to work from home under one’s own steam. One such is a person who goes by the moniker “Shifty_sion” on eBay and from whom I purchased a £30 book at the bargain price of £5.99 + postage. When it failed to arrive as promised, I contacted him for an explanation. He said that he was self-isolating and could not go to the post office. Could I wait? I agreed (I have plenty of books to read) but, when I remembered to chase it up three months later, Shifty had disappeared without trace. Had the virus done its deadly work, or did I miss the clue in the name?