Wooden Shoes and AI: The Future is Now

About two hundred years ago, French workers who wore wooden shoes called sabots threw them into machines in an effort to disable them. From that occurrence the etymology of the word sabotage and saboteur can be traced. The workers, fearing that their jobs were in jeopardy due to the development of machines, sought to preserve the status quo. They failed. The development of machinery ultimately led to the industrial revolution which led to great progress, improvement in the standard of living for millions and the onset of the modern world. It is undeniable that there were many problems and inequities associated with the industrial revolution but with the advance of society and social and economic progress, all must admit that life is better for more people today than ever before.

We are now on the threshold of another industrial revolution, namely the development and utilization of powerful computer technology called artificial intelligence or AI. I cannot say that I understand exactly what it is and what it does. My son, who is computer savvy, told me there is no purpose in explaining it to me as I wouldn't understand it anyway. From that comment I conclude that there is a generational divide in this field and I probably will never understand it. However, there are certainly many people of all ages who do "get" it and will utilize it fully.

What I am concerned about in this post is how AI will be used, what it will be used for and its affect on society. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has proposed a 50% stock tax on AI companies to ensure that the public, through government ownership, has a say in what AI does and of course, an interest in its earnings. This is pure socialism. It should be noted that Sen. Sanders is a socialist, and socialists believe in government control of the means of production and distribution as they seek to remake society; Into what is anybody's guess. Of course, entrepreneurs, investors, inventors and innovators will not bother to create and produce new products if the profits accrue to the government and their work comes under public control; this is another issue. One only needs to think of the failure of socialist economies wherever that failed experiment was tried. The most salient example of socialist failure is the collectivization of agriculture in the former failed state known as the Soviet Union (USSR). The collective farm (kolkhoz) created by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's decree cost millions of lives as kulaks, "rich peasants", who owned a cow and/or two chickens were sent to the Gulag. Soviet agriculture never produced enough food for the USSR but the tiny little private plots assigned to the kolkhoz members produced more than the massive kolkhozes. Wonder why? The peasant put in extra hours on his little plot and worked only the amount required on the collective farm. It's called free enterprise, even in the Marxist-Leninist worker's paradise of the USSR.

People have legitimate questions about AI. People fear that they will lose their jobs and college students worry they won't get their dream jobs on Wall Street or elsewhere. But, at the same time, AI is performing medical miracles in the laboratory, the operating room and the clinic and is saving lives. So, as every leap forward in progress arrived at an happy medium where humanity was able to advance and benefit, we can expect the same here. Today, ignorant self-serving fanatics, who exploit people's anxieties, abuse the democratic electoral political process to promote fear and socialism resulting in their achieveing personal power for their own benefit. Contrary to socialist propoganda, American democracy is not in danger and Americans should remember that the socialist experiment has failed miserably. We don't need it here in America or anywhere else. Years ago, IBM advertised "Machines should work, people should think". Machines should perform repetitive thoughtless work, people should perform creative work. Computers and automation have given the United States the highest standard of living in the whole world and the best is yet to come.

From 1954 to 1962, during his Hollywood career, Ronald Reagan hosted General Electric Theatre.

Their advertising slogan was "progress is our most important product". Later on, their slogan was "we bring good things to life" followed by "imagination at work". How true that was! In the year 2026 and the future, let's continue with our progress. If the phony progressives get their way, the only thing we can be sure of is that progress will stop. But it won't. It will go on in other countries. It cannot be stopped any more than King Canute could stop the waves from reaching the shore.

America is better today than yesterday and will be even better tomorrow. Reactionary Marxist policies are not what we need nor do we need "democratic socialists" throwing leather shoes into machines. Those days are gone forever.Truly, progress is our most important product. Let us look forward to further progress for humanity with the assistance of AI.

Garry S. Sklar

Guttenberg, NJ

July 12, 2026