Tag / humanity

by Nathan Coumbe

Remember: there are humans involved

There’s one train of thought in discussions about AI that aggravates me the most.

The conversation inevitably, yet casually, turns to when it will be time to eliminate job roles and pass the work off to AI.

I hear it all the time, and there are several problems with it. The least of which is the belief that an AI agent, in the current state of the field, can actually replace a human expert in a field or subject simply because it’s fast and efficient at doing similar work.1

It can’t, at least not yet. And when it’s used as such, the results are often banal (AI slop is aptly named).2

But the issue with these conversations that bothers me the most is the nonchalance with which these comments are made.

We’re talking about people here. Human beings with hopes, dreams, and worlds as rich as those having the conversations. People with families, children, parents, and friends who rely on them.

And we reduce them to job roles?

I’m no Luddite. I know that technology changes the world of work. The steam shovel got rid of ditch diggers, and email eliminated the secretary pool.

AI will eventually have a major impact on the job market: it will change which jobs are available and, for those that remain, what they look like.

But in the meantime, let’s remember that we’re talking about people. And our decisions need to be made with empathy and understanding for the impacts they’ll have on them.

  1. If you actually think that AI is replacing human beings, you need to check out the addendum at the bottom of Cal Newport’s latest blog post. ↩︎
  2. I assert that companies that make these decisions to eliminate jobs and outsource everything will thoroughly regret them in the next few years when the limits of these tools are exposed, and we enter the “trough of disillusionment.”

    The Gartner Hype Cycle is proven and applies to these AI companies as much as they have to every other culture-changing technology we’ve experienced.

    After the hype dies down, most things will go back to normal, except that people will use AI for things that it’s actually good at. ↩︎
By Jeremykemp at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10547051
by Nathan Coumbe

Why write?

Why would anyone start a blog in 2020 (or in my case, 2019)?

Nobody wants to read anymore; no one has the attention span to read anything more than headlines, bullet points, and headers.

If we want information, a lesson, or an explanation of an idea, we just go to YouTube. If we want entertainment, we go to Tik Tok for quick, random snippets or Twitter for messages. No more than 140 characters, thank you very much!

So why write?

For me, it’s to stretch a muscle. It isn’t to get someone to buy something; it isn’t to persuade the entire world to change how it operates. Writing helps me organize my thoughts. It allows me to practice putting messages and ideas into the world in a coherent form; it allows me to argue points and prove or disprove my ideas with my own gathered evidence.

“Writing is organized thinking on behalf of persuasion.”

–Seth Godin, “Even if it’s not graduation week for you…”

Perhaps I’m trying to persuade myself.

So this blog I write, or try to write, everyday – what’s it for? It’s for me to learn, practice, stretch, organize, and try and make sense of the world.

If it helps you, too, I am thrilled.

You should write something.

Maybe writing isn’t for you, but it is a uniquely human endowment, and I advise you try it. However, be clear on why you are writing. Don’t write to get people to read; don’t write to get a following; don’t write to get money. Write for yourself, at least at first.

Write to examine your thoughts. Write to examine what you are learning and check your understanding. Write to get the massed jumble of ideas out of your head and into a physical form – you’d be amazed how much anxiety that relieves. Write to try and persuade one person that your idea might help them get better.

It doesn’t have to be good; it just needs to be done. And the more you do it, the better it will get.

Write something.

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