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Take a clue from simple physics, friction is wasted energy. About the only good friction is in your car's brake system, and that friction doesn't make the car go! (My Prius slows down by recapturing energy by regenerative braking, which is why it gets 45 MPG.)
Elementary physics,PIA.
1) You could not walk without the friction between your shoes and the ground. As you try to step forward, you push your foot backward. Friction holds your shoe to the ground, allowing you to walk. Consider how difficult it is to walk on slippery ice, where there is little friction.
2) Writing with a pencil requires friction. You could not hold a pencil in your hand without friction. It would slip out when you tried to hold it to write. The graphite pencil led would not make a mark on the paper without friction.
3) A pencil eraser uses friction to rub off mistakes written in pencil lead. Rubbing the eraser on the lead wears out the eraser due to friction, while the particles worn off gather up the pencil lead from the paper.
4) It is the air resistance or drag that slows down a parachute.
5) And, of course, all braking systems rely on friction.
6) We can not fix nail in the wood or wall if there is no friction. It is friction which holds the nail.
Not all manual labor can be viewed as without skill. There are countless jobs that require human intervention. Automation advances but only inasmuch as it reduces labor costs (which is not always the case) so the capitalist will look for cheap labor (but human labor) where needed. This increases surplus value. Globalization, and its attendant Trade Agreements and Trade Policies are an attempt to procure that cheap labor as well as expanding markets, because, when the domestic market becomes saturated, as it tends to in highly developed economies, and the capitalist can produce goods at a lower cost she can offer those goods domestically, thus, depressing the level of wages in their own countries - increasing again the surplus value. Vicious cycle aimed solely at increasing the share of wealth that goes to the capitalist as opposed to that which would be distributed in society.
"The liberals can understand everything but people who don't understand them." Lenny Bruce
"The cleverest of all, in my opinion, is the man who calls himself a fool at least once a month." Dostoevsky