Automation and the Work of Man

Automation is the delegation of work from conscious human beings to unconscious machines. Machines are functional models (i.e. maps) of the work that they are designed to perform. Effective automation becomes possible only after conscious human beings develop a precise model of some work. Because no map, however faithful, can be identical to the territory that it represents, it is impossible to design a machine that responds perfectly to every anomaly. Our models of reality and the machines that implement them can approach but will never touch the asymptote of reality itself. Therefore, conscious human beings – who, by the light of Goodness, can derive meaningful distinctions from novel phenomena – will always have work to do on the frontier.