Hacker Cinema
The Paperwork Explosion
1967 · Film · short · 5 min
Directed by Jim Henson
Mankind has devoted too much time, too much money and plenty of space on paperwork and more paperwork. In the 1960's, to remove all those obstacles and all that paper, and in order to make life easier, IBM has created a groundbreaking device - a machine that could improve office relations and operations. IBM, through Jim Henson's picture, presents the 'Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter', a machine that does the work while we do the thinking.
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Related: every few years someone posts "Paperwork Explosion"[0] again, and people here rediscover that there's nothing new under the sun.
> In 1967, Henson was contracted by IBM to make a film extolling the virtues of their new technology, the MT/ST, a primitive word processor. The film would explore how the MT/ST would help control the massive amount of documents generated by a typical business office. Paperwork Explosion, produced in October 1967, is a quick-cut montage of images and words illustrating the intensity and pace of modern business. Henson collaborated with Raymond Scott on the electronic sound track.
Usually the discussion quickly converges on how automation in administration is a prime example of the Jevons Paradox[2] in action.
[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IZw2CoYztk
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox