Oh nice. So this story obviously takes it to the extreme, but I do think there's a lot to this bit:
"The employees were told exactly what to do, and they did it quite happily. It was a major relief actually, because the software told them precisely what to do step by step."
Telling people what hands to move and when is a bit much, but I suspect a lot of people would find a lot of comfort in the idea that they can do well by following instructions. It's sort of like a reversion to high school - do the assignment and you can do well, no need to make a bunch of choices on your own.
I just made it up. I thought the idea of trying to write down everything you know was kind of funny, and sounded like the start of some messes up Brothers Grimm fairy tale paradox. And then it was about some princess and and old witch and a weird little man with magic beans and a notebook that didn't let you ever forget things, but that first version didn't make any sense. And needed more Griff songs (obviously).
I think it's a mix of #1 (judgment) and #2 (context).
A big reason why humans can deliver higher-quality work than AI in many areas today is that we have more context, like you're discussing. But I'd argue that "judgment" is essentially similar to that; judgment is how you interpret facts and arrive at a decision or recommendation by filtering the information through the lens of your personal experience.
And personal experience is just more context; having done a lot of stuff, and knowing what worked and what didn't, for example. AI doesn't have "personal experience" over a long career right now.
But as AI is given more tasks to do, esp. end-to-end, that context gap decreases. No need to document all meetings or conversations: If AI was actually the one doing the work, it knows what happened, if it worked, how it was received (as in, did a human request changes) etc.
That's kinda the philosophical question in this to me - at some point, that feels like it starts to collapse into something that's basically a question about free will. Do we have judgement, or is judgement just more context? Is judgement some innate power, or is it a squisher version of experience that's been collapsed thousands of things down into what only feels like intuition? (I have no idea, and it probably doesn't matter. But I guess these questions are like wikipedia - they all collapse into philosophy at some point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Getting_to_Philosophy)
Yeah, hard to know for sure. Maybe we should ask AI :)
And yeah, that’s the post. Less of a philosophical take and more of an attempt to highlight that all the unsexy stuff people tend to pay little attention to at work will become the key asset as it provides nuanced context AI doesn’t (yet) have access to. Context and relationships > “being good at your craft”, I guess, since AI is quickly becoming good at everyone’s craft
dang, footnote 2 goes hard.
Yeah, I mean, if I'm gonna say the boring stuff about data software all the time, I gotta keep myself entertained somehow.
imo you might’ve buried the lede?
one day, when this blog turns into a book of children's stories, this comment will be where it all started
Machines becoming our managers was always the plan!
Did you ever read "Manna" by Marshall brain?
https://marshallbrain.com/manna1
Oh nice. So this story obviously takes it to the extreme, but I do think there's a lot to this bit:
"The employees were told exactly what to do, and they did it quite happily. It was a major relief actually, because the software told them precisely what to do step by step."
Telling people what hands to move and when is a bit much, but I suspect a lot of people would find a lot of comfort in the idea that they can do well by following instructions. It's sort of like a reversion to high school - do the assignment and you can do well, no need to make a bunch of choices on your own.
And no need to deal with a capricious boss, or with trying to find the magic formula to please them.
Everyone says they want autonomy, but yeah, I'm not so sure.
Like your second footnote of a story
Where did it come from?
I just made it up. I thought the idea of trying to write down everything you know was kind of funny, and sounded like the start of some messes up Brothers Grimm fairy tale paradox. And then it was about some princess and and old witch and a weird little man with magic beans and a notebook that didn't let you ever forget things, but that first version didn't make any sense. And needed more Griff songs (obviously).
Great read.
I think it's a mix of #1 (judgment) and #2 (context).
A big reason why humans can deliver higher-quality work than AI in many areas today is that we have more context, like you're discussing. But I'd argue that "judgment" is essentially similar to that; judgment is how you interpret facts and arrive at a decision or recommendation by filtering the information through the lens of your personal experience.
And personal experience is just more context; having done a lot of stuff, and knowing what worked and what didn't, for example. AI doesn't have "personal experience" over a long career right now.
But as AI is given more tasks to do, esp. end-to-end, that context gap decreases. No need to document all meetings or conversations: If AI was actually the one doing the work, it knows what happened, if it worked, how it was received (as in, did a human request changes) etc.
Coincidentally, I wrote about that last week.
That's kinda the philosophical question in this to me - at some point, that feels like it starts to collapse into something that's basically a question about free will. Do we have judgement, or is judgement just more context? Is judgement some innate power, or is it a squisher version of experience that's been collapsed thousands of things down into what only feels like intuition? (I have no idea, and it probably doesn't matter. But I guess these questions are like wikipedia - they all collapse into philosophy at some point: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Getting_to_Philosophy)
Anyway, I assume this is the post you're talking about? https://www.operatorshandbook.com/p/how-to-future-proof-your-career-in
Yeah, hard to know for sure. Maybe we should ask AI :)
And yeah, that’s the post. Less of a philosophical take and more of an attempt to highlight that all the unsexy stuff people tend to pay little attention to at work will become the key asset as it provides nuanced context AI doesn’t (yet) have access to. Context and relationships > “being good at your craft”, I guess, since AI is quickly becoming good at everyone’s craft
Cambrian implosion lol