“The Automation Charade” and Why It Is Dangerous to Fear that Robots Will Take Our Jobs

I have always been susceptible to the so popular belief that AI mostly means robots, and these robots will take over our jobs. I have never felt threatened by robots, yet the dark side of AI is mostly portrayed by them. All the news about their evolution and capabilities left people with a scary conclusion: they will be so intelligent and skillful, and they will take our jobs. I couldn’t agree less.

This why I was so happy when I came across Astra Taylor’s article in Logic Magazine. I am not planning to analyze it or to summarize it but just briefly introduce it.

Basically, her point is that the discourse I had previously mentioned is embracing the idea of human replaceability in the work field. The more you feel threatened about losing a job because of an iron creature with a human-like look, the more you work: “But fauxtomation also has a more nefarious purpose. It reinforces the perception that work has no value if it is unpaid and acclimates us to the idea that one day we won’t be needed”. Taylor also gets into a short history of similar beliefs and discourses and criticizes it from a cultural perspective.

Nonetheless, I think this part pretty much emphasizes a lot of the automation debate and how we should understand it:

“Our general lack of curiosity about how the platforms and services we use every day really work means that we often believe the hype, giving automation more credit than it’s actually due. In the process, we fail to see—and to value—the labor of our fellow human beings. We mistake fauxtomation for the real thing, reinforcing the illusion that machines are smarter than they really are”.


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