Automation feels like an Extention of nature. As humans we’ve been incredibly successful in solving problems that get in our way, in refining processes and generally figuring out how to do less for more. This mirrors the basic concept of the second law of thermodynamics, that at the end of time all matter will have zero energy, everything in the known universe will be cold and lifeless; we will have reached the zenith of laziness.
Automation is a small part of that journey. It’s taking a process or problem and understanding how we can make it better, often by removing the human element. Examples of this include the experiment with AI automation in reading legal documents – the experiment ended in failure for the lawyers. One could argue that this was one of many victories now, and something of a norm looking into the not too distant future. We’re setting ourselves up to fail would be one way of looking at this. Another is that we’re creating an environment that frees us from the chains of labour, and that in freeing ourselves from this bind we open up the possibilities of spending our precious time doing more valuable things. Glass half empty; glass half full.
Whether this is a good thing, a bad thing, or just a thing, what is certain is that we (humans) need to assess how we react to this new way of living. We need to ensure those that would discard human capital in a heartbeat in favour of greater profit and personal wealth creation are kept in check. We need to collectively understand where the Faustian deal lurk, and warn each other of the dark implications of de-investment in ourselves. We need to love each other and understand that life, work, creativity, community, challenge, innovation and inventiveness are human values, not machine code. We can teach a robot to mimic, but we must continue to value each other for what we are, authentic humans.