I don’t know why, but recently everyone seems to be sharing GIFs of assembly lines. Maybe we derive a masochistic pleasure from “seeing how the sausage is made” or something. Some people are probably subconsciously comforted by the looping format of a GIF, which seems to suggest we’ll never run out of resources to consume. Others might feel a tinge of panic at the efficient speed with which this endless parade of crap is fabricated. A few weeks ago, I was utterly transfixed by this video of a sewing needle factory, which shows all the unexpectedly complex steps required to make this tiny object I handle on a near-daily basis. Perhaps we’re so detached from traditional labor that the sight of a thing being made is exotic.
At any rate, some assembly line GIFs are totally horrifying, like the baby chickens on their way to factory farms. Others, like the ice cream being squirted into bowls are equal parts disgusting and satisfying for the simplicity of an action creating a finished product.
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