~ AHC-ACTATOO-W/T/L-IC-NOP-A-LOC-ICOUT-SAM ~ Automation’s Human Consequences – Automation Can Take A Toll On Our – Work / Talents / Lives – It Can – Narrow Our Perspectives – And – Limit Our Choices – It Can Open Us To – Surveillance And Manipulation

~ ACB-O-CC-O-FOH-ISWTTACLAEHT-C-WWDAWWA ~ As Computers Become – Our – Constant Companions – Our – Familiar Obliging Helpmates – It Seems Wise To Take A Closer Look At Exactly How They’re – Changing – What We Do And Who We Are

~ HDYT-TI-I-TLOC-IT-R-S-B-S-I-O-AA? ~ How Do You Translate – The Ineffable – Into – Lines Of Code – Into The – Rigid – Step-By-Step – Instructions – Of – An Algorithm?

~ MOTCTWCUH-ITO-AAB-OCGQE-TCBTMOAT-SP-MJ-A-LFE ~ Many Of The Cognitive Talents We’ve Considered Uniquely Human – It Turns Out – Are Anything But – Once Computers Get Quick Enough – They Can Begin To Mimic Our Ability To – Spot Patterns – Make Judgments – And – Learn From Experience

~ ALOTVSTTPD-DARAB ~ A Lot Of The Very Smart Things That People Do – Don’t Actually Require A Brain

~ CAA-W-OAS-IBMBS ~ Creative And Analytical – Work – Of All Sorts – Is Being Mediated By Software

~ TTWAIT-IOGUWWDN-ATCOWWD ~ The Trouble With Automation Is That – It Often Gives Us What We Don’t Need – At The Cost Of What We Do

~ E-HTA-A-O-S-C-KW-ASTWCB-D-SS-TTTMOJIA-D-PR ~ Even – Highly Trained Analysts – And – Other – So-Called – Knowledge Workers – Are Seeing Their Work Circumscribed By – Decision-Support Systems – That Turn The Making Of Judments Into A – Data-Processing Routine

~ BTODOT-CT-O-SRTTLO-TSMIELLTW-EIE-T-TOS-A-GUASO-AAS-ATO-AFUFTWMUFF ~ By Taking Over Difficult Or Time-Consuming Tasks – Or – Simply Rendering Those Task Less Onerous – The Software Makes It Even Less Likely That We’ll – Engage In Efforts – That – Test Our Skills – And – Give Us A Sense Of – Accomplishment And Satisfaction – All Too Often – Automation Frees Us From That Which Makes Us Feel Free

~ DW-A-CROU-DW-A-SUOTMCAFE-TCAHTPD-TPCAEH-HDYMTEO-AEOEAE-O-AWOAAA-O-ASDOS? ~ Deployed Wisely – Automation – Can Relieve Of Us – Drudge Work – And – Spur Us On To More Challenging And Fulfilling Endeavors – The Costs Are Harder To Pin Down – The Personal Costs Are Even Hazier – How Do You Measure The Expense Of – An Erosion Of Effort And Engagement – Or – A Waning Of Agency And Autonomy – Or – A Subtle Deterioration Of Skill?

~ TCWM-O-FTM-AWTWHOTC-A-WTKFO-ANJ-POEC-T-EC-TS-TSOOL-A-TPWMFOITW ~ The Choices We Make – Or – Fail To Make – About Which Tasks We Hand Off To Computers – And – Which To Keep For Ourselves – Are Not Just – Practical Or Economic Choices – They’re – Ethical Choices – They Shape – The Substance Of Our Lives – And – The Place We Make For Ourselves In The World

~WD-HB-M? ~ WD-HB-M? ~ What Does – Human Being – Mean?

~ TRATG ~ The Robot At The Gate

~ TEBSLTGOFTTLF-IAAS-PCWTWCTP ~ The Economy’s Bounties Seem Likely To Go On Flowing To The Lucky Few – In An Automated System – Power Concentrates With Those Who Control The Programming

~ E-TMPS-ENMCT-AH ~ Even – The Most Powerful Supercomputer – Evidence No More Consciousness Than – A Hammer

~ TMEO-AEOS/ADOP/ASOR-SGUAP-A-GC-CABA-CG ~ The Mounting Evidence Of – An Erosion Of Skills / A Dulling Of Perception / A Slowing Of Reactions – Should Give Us All Pause – *A – Glass Cockpit – Can Also Be A – Glass Cage

~ TDE-A-LSD-DJPASFSICOAJ-IATCOTET-IT-R/A/S-O-TPWTPII-ARBWAW ~ The Degeneration Effect – A – Labor-Saving Device – Doesn’t Just Provide A Substitute For Some Isolated Component Of A Job – It Alters The Character Of The Entire Task – Including The – Roles / Attitudes / Skill – Of – The People Who Take Part In It – Automation Remakes Both Work And Worker

~ IBATPI-TER-TC-ABITP-C/L-I ~ In Bringing A Third Party Into – The Exam Room – The Computer – Also Brings In That Party’s – Commercial / Legal – Interests

~ PASBDAP-A-YPDBT ~ Put A Screen Between Doctor And Patient – And – You Put Distance Between Them

~ TGINL-TRTPOHT-TSBOK-B-R-TRIR ~ The Goal Is No Longer – To Replicate The Process Of Human Thought – That’s Still Beyond Our Ken – But – Rather – To Replicate Its Results

~ TSAAEOCC-CM-LAD-IT-UD-NTM-IITDMAT ~ The Speed And Apparent Exactitude Of Computer Calculations – Can Mask – Limitations And Distortions – In The – Underlying Data – Not To Mention – Imperfections In The Data-Mining Algorithms Themselves

~ ALDSHAAOSCAWTRO-INHTBMBMC ~ Any Large Data Set Holds An Abundance Of Spurious Correlations Along With The Reliable Ones – It’s Not Hard To Be Misled By Mere Coincidence

~ TL-O-ODD-WHUSA-MD-MTTBVTO-F/H/W-B ~ TL-O-ODD-WHUSA-MD-MTTBVTO-F/H/W-B ~ The Labors – Our – Obliging Digital Deities – Would Have Us See As – Mere Drudgery – May Turnout To Be Vital To Our – Fitness / Happiness / Well-Being

~ OB-IBE-T-OIOISFOB-LUTDTIOIOWTWOT ~ Our Belief – Intuitive But Erroneous – That – Our Intellect Operates In Isolation From Our Body – Leads Us To Discount The Importance Of Involving Ourselves With The World Of Things

~ TAWT-BTGC-WL-TMBCGU ~ There Are Ways To – Break The Glass Cage – Without Losing – The Many Benefits Computers Grant Us

~ AFTP ~ Automation For The People

~ MSTFOTM-SOL0ETM-AT-W-BD/M/EACOCNA ~ Machines Share The Fallibility Of Their Makers – Sooner Or Later – Even The Most – Advanced Technology – Will – Break Down / Misfire – Encounter A – Cluster Of Circumstances – Never Anticipated

~ DA-MWGYTRDAT-MOTT-B-IYP-SOS-DFT-PP-YGTBGT-DH-W-TITER-T-RAO-T-CC ~ Doctor Algorithm – May Well Give You The Right Diagnosis And Treatment – Most Of The Time – But – If Your Particular – Set Of Symptoms – Doesn’t Fit The – Probability Profile – You’re Going To Be Glad That – Doctor Human – Was – There In The Examination Room – To – Review And Overrule – The – Computer’s Calculations

~ A-AT-B-MC-A-MI-TPSOFM-VBHTDT-TE ~ As – Automation Technologies – Become – More Complicated – And – More Interconnected – The Potential Sources Of Failure Multiply – Vulnerabilities Become Harder To Discern Too – Tested Exhaustively

~ A-S-E/O-I-SD-A-G-BI-HOTO-LOSC-CSCA-MA ~ A – Small – Error / Oversight – In – System Design – A – Glitch – Buried In – Hundreds Of Thousands Of – Lines Of Software Code – Can Still Cause A – Major Accident

~ P-A-M-M-PWOS-AJT-H-WON-WM-A-PBA ~ People – As – Mere – Monitors – Passive Watchers Of Screens – A Job That – Humans – With Our Notoriously – Wandering Minds – Are – Particularly Bad At

~ YHTDTMTSTW ~ You Have To Design The Machine To Suit The Worker

~ ASBEMC-TP-BI-UL ~ As Society Becomes Ever More Computerized – The Programmer – Becomes Its – Unacknowledged Legislator

~ ITHF-DNRTHF ~ Ignoring The Human Factor – Does Not Remove The Human Factor

~ H-CA ~ Human-Centred Automation

~ WGTPTRC? ~ Who Gets To Program The Robot’s Conscience?

~ IAMATBSLITW-MC-WHTBT-HI-I-SC ~ If Autonomous Machines Are To Be Set Loose In The World – Moral Codes – Will Have To Be Translated – However Imperfectly – Into – Software Codes

~ TFSFTBARWBASHRTW-IWC-W-A-M-S-F ~ The First Shot Freely Taken By A Robot Will Be A Shot Heard Round The World – It Will Change – War – And – Maybe – Society – Forever

~ THBIIOCOTTAO-EGOSAAT-DUAFO-IS ~ The Human Brain Is Incapable Of Concentrating On Two Things At Once – Every Glance Or Swipe At A Touchscreen – Draws Us Away From Our – Immediate Surroundings

~ WCBAWS-A-WIATC-A-HRA-BTSD ~ What Can’t Be Accomplished With Software – And – What Isn’t Amenable To Computation – And – Hence Resists Automation – Begins To Seem Dispensable

~ WWETGC-WRTSMOOB-TDFU-IEU ~ When We Enter The Glass Cage – We’re Required To Shed Much Of Our Body – That Doesn’t Free Us – It Emaciates Us

~ GPPOM ~ Giving People Precedence Over Machines

~ T-CC-ATTOODL-T-AGAC-P-I-F ~ To – Cede Choices – About The Texture Of Our Daily Lives – To – A Grand Abstraction Called – Progress – Is – Folly