Delegating tasks to the machine
Danny Ayers found an entertaining quote on delegation by Dan Connolly
formalizing knowledge allows us to delegate tasks to the machine
This is one of those hidden fears about knowledge management and expert systems before that. If you figure out how to "extract" everything I know, then I will become redundant.
But note the tone of this quote and the original note from Connolly. He's thinking of this as a good thing. At some point repetitive tasks become boring, even if they do require a decent background knowledge to do them well. Freeing knowledge workers to do interesting (and unusual) work also requires that they spend time understanding (formalizing) what they know and how that applies in the situation at hand. This allows delegation to the machine, and if done well, can create the right feedback mechanism so that the "machine" doesn't attempt to operate outside what it has been taught.
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said:
I work in research and start every morning in the library. My education is in psychology. I remember searching journals by hand. I now see bright young medical students find iformation electronically. There is much to be said for expedience due to technology. Software has even improved to the point where most do not really need to know much about search logic.
Some things will not happen though: A machine will not just happen across an article while thumbing through a journal and notice how, even though unrelated, a similar design might help his/her experiment and machine will not have a spontaneous thought or association. That is, unless we understand such a pattern so well that we can program it.
Machines can process information only by detailed instructions or algorithms. They are great for routine and boring task but I doubt a machine will ever pen "War and Peace" or "The Raven". They could be taught how to come close but it would be a facsimile.
Einstien's equations for relativity can be programed into a calculator. The Lorenz factor and such are all "plug and chug" rotines. Einstien, however, got the theory from imagination. He wondered what would happen if he could ride a beam of light. Now give me a shell script that can do that...
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yes, that threat (or promise): I will replace you with a very small shell script.