Could a machine do what you do?
Intellectuals have long likened men to machines. Nowadays we're inundated with reports (threats? promises?) that machines are coming for our jobs. Target knows us better than we know ourselves. Facebook is predicting our thoughts.
Looking at my 'targeted' ads, I'm pretty skeptical. But this is what we're told is happening.
Sure, the assembly line was a great achievement. But weren't the humans working the assembly line really a stand-in for machines we just weren't yet smart enough to invent?
The things we can automate are generally not the things humans want to do. They're repetitive, mindless tasks. When I used to run bindery equipment I liked it because my mind was free to wander. I was impressed by the pressman's ability to adjust the machinery without skipping a beat in our conversation.
We treat ourselves like machines, too. Do you track your steps? Your sleep? Is someone monitoring you to ensure you maximize your productivity? Are you optimizing your life?
When we're wishing we were more like machines, we're wishing we could get rid of the things that make us human. We're wishing we didn't need to rest. We're wishing we weren't hurt by someone else's actions. We're wishing we could ignore the suffering in front of us. We're wishing we could turn off our emotions. We're wishing we weren't forced to respect our human needs.
We're wishing we were machines because we live in a world built for machines, not humans.
So many of us think that we're doing something wrong or that the system is built for someone else. Systems are built to intentionally exclude types of people or they're excluded because of less explicit bias. But some systems don't work for anyone. Find me anyone who thinks the healthcare system or the education system or the legal system is great.
How is this world that humans built so unfriendly to humans? Why are our offices and hospitals and streets so unfriendly to the people they were ostensibly built for? WTF is wrong with us as a species?
People who think you can be automated have no clue what it is that you do every day. They have no clue what your true potential is. They have no clue how to be human themselves.
It's so incredibly sad that we, as a species, are so self loathing.
PS. I have a hunch that living in a world built for machines has something to do with why people today are so full of shame and loneliness.