Some of this stuff is so obviously cool but remember the cost of efficiency. 30% time saved means one person does more in their day. This has a personal toll because working less intensively gave you time to think and physically rest. You're at it non-stop now.
And that also means you need 30% fewer employees to manage the same workload. That's going to be the trade-off here. How many people will have to go just to offset the hardware and software costs?
I don't know what I'm arguing here... I'm finding it hard to avoid quoting Ian Malcolm in the context but I think we have to remember there are definite downsides to treating people like underutilised machinery.
> working less intensively gave you time to think and physically rest
I don't buy this argument, honestly. By extension, you're saying we should go back to manual book-keeping instead of computers to do accounting, because it would employ more accountants, and let them work at a more relaxed pace.
Looking up documentation, for example, is not an intellectually demanding task. Instead of going back and forth between printed reference, being distracted, forgetting what you read and having to re-check it, this helps reduce the feedback loop and that makes work more intellectually engaging and interesting because the worker can focus on things that actually require thought, rather than menial tasks.
People will still take breaks and slack off, it's human nature, and they should be able to, if you demand continued unbroken attention, you will end up with people who make a lot more mistakes, I expect (citation needed).
I am much more worried about automated performance metrics and gamification of work, those do offer levers for the employers to push the employees beyond sane limits.
No, I think automation helps humanity a lot in certain places. But my (tangential) experience and main concern really applies to healthcare. Especially in the UK. I should have added this before but couldn't find the words to explain it without going off on one.
To put it briefly, the utopian "we get to go home and see our kids on time" world Augmedix is selling is just the sort of stuff that gets bought by the NHS to make GPs handle double their workload.
There supposedly are protections in place (contracted and EUWTD) to stop doctors and nurses working without protected breaks, but you find me a single competent (eg) med-reg who manages to regularly take theirs.
There is a ton of quite low-hanging fruit... But half of it is a poison in some professions and most of that relies on the reason it was bought.
Really, chasing this thought process can get pretty philosophical, especially when you consider the widespread skills we have already lost because we outsource and automate. They are things to consider too but immediately I'd worry about the people being told their workload is doubling because they've got a fancy gadget now.
The invention of automatic switchboards annihilated the jobs of thousands of switchboard operators.
The development of advanced calculators (computers) removed the need for rooms of hundreds of engineers fiddling with slide rulers.
Microsoft Excel increased accountant efficiency by ungodly amounts, which makes their lives... harder... because they have less time to think and physically rest?
Yea I hate to say it but I have no idea what you're arguing either.
This sort of thinking would be more useful if it was specific to Glass. As is, it's just a general worry with most ways to make humans more productive.
> And that also means you need 30% fewer employees to manage the same workload.
God forbid. Didn't we learn our lesson from the plow, the cotton gin, or the combine? All those jobs needlessly lost. If we don't learn from history, we're doomed to repeat it.
It seems like that this may actually take a lesser physical toll on the body for some applications - the example given in the article stated that mechanics no longer had to constantly go up and down ladders to consult documentation.
I see it as same thing as using a programming IDE that shows you e.g. available method names and argument types for the API calls as you type, versus having to look them up in API docs in a separate window or monitor.
Being able to work more had never really changed a thing in the grand scheme of all things ( Ford,.. ). Everything automated like a human is a real challenge, in my perspective
And that also means you need 30% fewer employees to manage the same workload. That's going to be the trade-off here. How many people will have to go just to offset the hardware and software costs?
I don't know what I'm arguing here... I'm finding it hard to avoid quoting Ian Malcolm in the context but I think we have to remember there are definite downsides to treating people like underutilised machinery.