Continuing from my commentary in the “Anti-Work” thread…
I think “humane” refers to anything that demonstrates people’s care for other beings. It means that people care about people, not just some people, but any and all people who are affected by their actions. It means that this is taken as a high priority… as high as, or higher than, all other priorities.
I think that “human downgrading” means that powerful forces have relegated the above to a lower priority. And I think the masses go along with it for two reasons, one is that they get paid more (by those powers) to go along with it, and the other is semi-conscious herd mentality – they encourage each other to go along with it.
Funny story: A few years ago, a friend proudly told me that his daughter, a college senior, got a job interview at FB. I told him, “I’m sorry to hear that…” (and proceeded to tell him why).
My perception is that a lot of the discussion around this problem is aimed at trying to find a “systems solution” or “policy solution”. The fly in that ointment is that all systems and policy solutions imaginable (by me, anyway) can be defeated by people not caring about people (if that’s what’s trendy). The only solution I can think of is to decide for myself that I care, and to try to behave accordingly… even if that puts me in a small, non-trendy minority for the rest of my existence… and reduces my paycheck as well. So be it.
Rotsa ruck…