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Reports of our death are an exaggeration: Difference between revisions
Reports of our death are an exaggeration (view source)
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“Today,” he warned, “we have people doing work like robots. Tomorrow, we will have ''robots behaving like people''”. | “Today,” he warned, “we have people doing work like robots. Tomorrow, we will have ''robots behaving like people''”. | ||
In any case, No bad thing, you might say — who will miss the bankers? | In any case, No bad thing, you might say — who will miss the bankers? | ||
You can see where Cryan’s idea comes from: what with high-frequency trading | You can see where Cryan’s idea comes from: what with high-frequency trading [[algorithm]]s, [[AI]] medical diagnosis, self-driving cars: the machines are coming for us. Some see technology at a [[tipping point]], at which ''we'' will be tipped out. The machines have taken over our routine tasks; soon they will take the ''hard'' stuff, too. | ||
A fashionable view. But a big call, all the same. | A fashionable view. But a big call, all the same. | ||
As long as there has been the lever, wheel or plough, humans have used machines to do tasks which are [[tedious]], repetitive or require brute strength beyond our frail earthly shells. They do this because machines follow instructions better than we do, ''by definition'': that’s what means is to be a machine. ''In the stuff they are good at'', they’re quicker, stronger, nimbler, cheaper and less error-prone. | |||
But it’s an important caveat: as {{author|George Gilder}} recently put it: “The claim of superhuman performance seems rather overwrought to me. Outperforming unaided human beings is what machines are supposed to do. That's why we build them.”<ref>{{br|Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy}} (2018)</ref> | But it’s an important caveat: as {{author|George Gilder}} recently put it: | ||
{{Quote|“The claim of superhuman performance seems rather overwrought to me. Outperforming unaided human beings is what machines are supposed to do. That's why we build them.”<ref>{{br|Life After Google: The Fall of Big Data and the Rise of the Blockchain Economy}} (2018)</ref>}} | |||
===The division of labour=== | ===The division of labour=== | ||
Machines can only operate in constrained environments. They make flawless decisions, as long as both question ''and'' answer are pre-configured. But take a machine out of its designed environment and it is useless: Good luck getting a [[Jacquard loom]] to plough a field. | Machines can only operate in constrained environments. They make flawless decisions, as long as both question ''and'' answer are pre-configured. But take a machine out of its designed environment and it is useless: Good luck getting a [[Jacquard loom]] to plough a field. | ||