Manual Artificial Labor

In the near future, what will menial labor look like? How will workers in less-respected roles be treated by clients and superiors? How can digital suppression of emotion create problems of censorship? How can we positively augment menial labor without infringing on individual autonomy? We looked about 25 years ahead, which we decided was far enough in the future to imagine advanced augmentation, but not so far ahead that all manual/menial labor has been replaced by artificial intelligence.

 

Our goal was to create two experiences with the ability to start a conversation about labor in the near future, using humor and narrative as their weapon. Our experiences push the above questions into the area of dystopia, while remaining somewhat grounded to remain relatable. The experiences should resonate well with anyone who has worked in a low-level customer service job or has done manual labor, and should pose questions for everyone else.