> “Alienation” means the act of separating something from oneself. When you go to work for a boss, you alienate your abilities to that person for the length of your shift. Your ability to lift boxes, do mental math, or coordinate an office, are all properties of your body and mind. But for a few hours, they become a tool for someone else, who orders them around for their benefit. > — [Libcom.org](https://libcom.org/library/how-overthrow-illuminati) I tend to use this term in the Marxist sense of the word, the alienation or estrangement of humans from aspects of their human nature. Especially in [[Work]]. The concept of feeling like a cog, or acting like machine are literal forms that show the ‘alien’ in how we are removed from [[human scale]] operation in the workplace.