Automation can lead to loss of skills from "summary" of The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr
The march of automation through the workplace and beyond has long been regarded as a boon to human progress. Machines, it's assumed, can perform tasks more quickly, accurately, and efficiently than people can. But as automation becomes more sophisticated and pervasive, its downsides are becoming increasingly apparent. One of the most troubling is the potential for a loss of skills among the humans who rely on automated systems to do their work for them. When we offload tasks to machines, we free ourselves from the tedium and drudgery of those tasks, but we also relinquish the opportunity to develop and maintain the skills required to perform them. Over time, our abilities can atrophy and our knowledge can fade. We become dependent on the very systems that were meant to liberate us, and we find ourselves ill-equipped to cope when those systems fail or are unavailable. The more we rely on automation, the more vulnerable we become to its shortcomings. The problem is compounded by the fact that automation tends to make tasks easier to perform, reducing the need for human intervention and oversight. As a result, we may find ourselves engaging less with the work we do, relying on automated systems to handle the details while we focus on higher-level decision-making. While this can be a welcome relief in the short term, it can have long-term consequences for our skills and abilities. If we're not actively engaged in the tasks we perform, we're less likely to develop the expertise and judgment that come from experience. Moreover, automation can lead to a loss of what psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls "flow," the state of intense focus and concentration that comes from fully immersing oneself in a challenging task. When we hand off tasks to machines, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to experience flow and the sense of accomplishment that comes from mastering difficult tasks. We may become bored and disengaged, leading to a further erosion of our skills and motivation. In short, while automation offers many benefits, it also carries risks. By relying too heavily on automated systems, we may find ourselves losing the skills and abilities that make us uniquely human. To avoid this fate, we must strike a balance between automation and human endeavor, ensuring that we remain actively engaged in the tasks we perform and continue to develop and hone our skills. Only then can we reap the full benefits of automation without sacrificing our own capabilities in the process.
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