Just like that: technological advancement changes even the structure of institutions. It is hard to accept at first, but that’s the reality.

When I was a kid in Bursa, cotton fluffers used to make the rounds through the neighborhoods. They don’t anymore. Have you ever seen one? Back then, mattresses had a different technology content. Mattresses, blankets, and pillows were made of cotton or wool. It flattened as you slept on it, so fluffers would come to fluff the cotton or wool in the street alleys. This way, the mattresses would become soft again and regain their shape. Then, the technology changed and the use of innerspring mattresses started to spread. The cotton-filled mattresses gradually disappeared, as did the cotton fluffers. The change in technology doomed the fluffers to the anthology of extinct professions. Cotton fluffer guilds would have been affected negatively, if there had been any.

Today we have chambers as modern-age guilds. The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey, the Ministry of Finance Directorate General for Revenue Administration, and the Turkish Statistical Institute last year contracted a study to ensure the transparency of chamber elections and to avoid gerrymandering. I was checking the results of the study. Now, the profession one practices will be decided not arbitrarily on the basis of the election plans of particular groups in chambers, but directly via a central survey. After reading the study, I saw that other professions are about to go extinct, like the cotton fluffers. For instance, there used to be fuel sellers when wood and coal were used for heating. When natural gas was introduced, the fuel sellers disappeared. Now in the cities, people use wood only for fireplaces. Similarly, bottled gas sellers have vanished. I guess printing shop owners also have reached their expiry date. Their number has started to fall below the threshold needed to establish a chamber. Why? Also because of technological change. First, desktop publishing has started to gain importance in Turkey as it has throughout the world. Now the field of computers and software qualifies as a professional chamber. Second, I think China also offers cheap services .in the publishing sector. The same applies for carpet and rug manufacturing. Technological advancement is the basic reality of our age. We are the offspring of a technical civilization. Professions change as technology changes.

While I was checking the list, I recalled the 3D printing issue. Remember? It allows you to get 3D printout of a device or component you have designed on your computer. In the past, after the design process you had to find a CNC operator and get a prototype made. Now, the prototype directly comes to your desk. Imagine how this can reduce green gas emissions! Or, take biomedical programs. Inserting bone meal instead of plastics or metal into the printer, you can generate bones for plastic surgery operations. A comment I received for the previous commentary said, “CNC machines already do what 3D printers are supposed to do.” It appears I wasn’t able to make myself clear. What I mean is that soon we will have to find new jobs for CNC machines and operators. If they had a professional group or committee in the chamber system, it will go extinct like cotton fluffers in a decade or so.

I thought about these while I was reading the pieces on lobbying and debates about the chamber elections. Just like that, technological advancement changes even the structure of institutions. It is hard to accept at first, but that’s the reality. What can I say? You cannot fight reality.

This commentary was published in Radikal daily on 01.02.2013