Friday, November 06, 2020
One tide receding?
There's a nascent shift in the latest push to eliminate all human skills.
The war between automation and real skills has been going on for 300 years, so the pattern isn't new. Ask Ned Ludd and John Henry.
The latest push involves AI, which has always been a hoax. Many of the tech monsters, from Bezos to Elon, insisted that AI was fully capable of replacing all human activity.
They tried to replace seemingly routine tasks with AI-enhanced robots, and failed.
Elon actually learned a lesson from his failure, and since then has been trying to preach the opposite. Good for him. Learning is extinct in this country, especially in the Share Value world.
MindMatters reports that WalMart has learned the lesson as well. WalMart hoped to replace stockers and janitors with robots, and has now given up the attempt.
Basic fact: Automation simply can't replace tasks that require perception. Automation has ALWAYS replaced humans in a few broad categories of tasks. Heavy lifting and long-distance transport were solved by horses, then winches and trucks. Mindless repetition was solved by printing presses and looms and spot-welders.
Some of these, like the looms and spot-welders, are fairly delicate and complex, but don't require intelligence beyond simple calculating or sequencing logic. These replacements began around 1800 and were optimal by 1970. All attempts to extend them with fancier computers have failed, and will continue to fail.
EXPERIENCE SURVIVES. THEORY KILLS.
¶ 10:02 AM 
