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Template:Modernism versus pragmatism: Difference between revisions
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Shortcomings in current [[technology]] mean we cannot — ''yet'' — fully solve that problem. We still need humans to make sure the machine operates as best it can, but the further humans are from that central executive function, and the better the algorithm gets, the more humans resemble a maintenance crew: their task is simply to ensure the orderly functioning of the plant. As technology advances, human [[agency]] can be progressively decommissioned. | Shortcomings in current [[technology]] mean we cannot — ''yet'' — fully solve that problem. We still need humans to make sure the machine operates as best it can, but the further humans are from that central executive function, and the better the algorithm gets, the more humans resemble a maintenance crew: their task is simply to ensure the orderly functioning of the plant. As technology advances, human [[agency]] can be progressively decommissioned. | ||
The modernist narrative focusses on [[Legibility|what it can see]], which is necessarily limited to the ''formal'' inputs and outputs of its own model. There are at least two consequences of this. Firstly, the modernist narrative cannot see ''informal'', but often vital, interactions between components of the system that | The modernist narrative focusses on [[Legibility|what it can see]], which is necessarily limited to the ''formal'' inputs and outputs of its own model. There are at least two consequences of this. | ||
Firstly, the modernist [[narrative]] cannot see ''informal'', but often vital, interactions between components of the system that the model does not consider material: random acts of kindness, the jobs the staff do that are not in the [[service catalogue]], the work-arounds that keep the machine going; the ad-hoc tricks that make up the difference between meaningful performance and work-to-rule. | |||
Secondly, modernism is a ''[[negative sum game]]'': its baseline is immediate, costless performance of the program. Positive variance from this baseline ''is not possible'': the goal is to lose as little energy as possible. As with a Newtonian equation, real-world performance never meets theoretical conditions: friction and imperfection means an inevitable loss of energy and increase in [[entropy]]. | Secondly, modernism is a ''[[negative sum game]]'': its baseline is immediate, costless performance of the program. Positive variance from this baseline ''is not possible'': the goal is to lose as little energy as possible. As with a Newtonian equation, real-world performance never meets theoretical conditions: friction and imperfection means an inevitable loss of energy and increase in [[entropy]]. | ||