As we strive to make the world fairer and safer, we introduce more and more automation. More protocol, more flow diagrams, more regulation.
In medicine, new doctors are increasingly relying on the use of machines and complex blood tests, when in fact the answer or key decision-making factor lies with appropriate evaluation of the patient lying in front of them. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/opinion/l02medical.html)
Humans increasingly rely on technology. HawkEye technology will overrule umpire judgments in a tennis game, and modern cars will override the drivers’ controls if they detect nearby obstacles. And for good reason. They are more reliable.
But we must be careful in letting machines and processes aid or even make decisions for us. Should a sailor become so reliant upon electronic navigation as to lose her star-reading skills, woe betide the loss of power on her boat. The same could be said of surgeons using machines to operate, pilots using electronics to fly, and anyone regularly using the GPS on their phone.
Deep Blue (IBM computer) may be able to beat Kasparov (reigning human chess champion), but this does not spell the end for human judgment.
At the end of the day, life conforms to rules that are a hell of a lot more complicated than those in a game of chess. Behaviour is governed by the minutiae of the brain’s neurons at any given moment, in relation to everything in their past up to said point.
It is to this near-infinite complexity that everything on the internet – designed by humans – tries to appeal.
It is therefore with this near-infinite complexity with which we must judge it.
Chris
Oolone
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