You speak of water flowing and doors being opened.... that I know of, no digital gimmick has been developed as yet which can install doors or rig buildings with plumbing systems, or for that matter, even advise in an informed manner as to whether one ought to use a power drill, or a screwdriver, or both, in the course of these tasks, all of which require skill, experience, and hands-on expertise, or they will simply not get done.
The departure I must take from your rather urbane and insular reasoning is the same as I have taken from this entire obsession with technological developments as their own reward, and it is summarized in a single, simple query: who's gonna fix the plumbing?
The entire modern way of life, with all its amenities and marvels and comforts, relies on the steady availability of a number of rather mundane and even unpleasant resources, human ones. These include not only a ready supply of cheap labor to do everything from washing dishes to slaughtering livestock to stitching garments to pruning hedges, but also to perhaps an even greater extent, skilled practitioners of thoroughly analog trades who can.... install doors for you apartment-dwelling urbanites to open at your convenience with nary a thought as to how they got there or why they work as designed (a door is one of the most crucial mechanisms of civilization, try living without them for a while if you don't believe me), or figure out why water (or sewage...) is going anywhere BUT where you need it to go, and fix it.
Your whole presentation here is front-loaded with the urbane presumptions of everyday systems and infrastructures simply existing because you want them to, and operating as intended because it annoys you when they don't and might cause you some inconvenience.
But if you had ever installed a door, which can be a way more intricate and demanding task than you assume by the time the thing is made to fit properly, open and shut smoothly, and latch & lock safely, you might have a different appreciation for just how much content this throwaway metaphor, of technology opening doors for you, really calls on. If you had ever started from scratch and finished with a structure fully fitted with pipe and fixtures and drains and vents so that, only then, water would go where you want it to, you might re-think the idea of using the flow of water as some inevitable given as well.
Burt no need, right? The upscale-urban mindset, ever concerned with upward mobility and interest rates and where to go on one's next lavish & exotic vaycay, simply assumes that some mystical 'they' will always be available to wash those dishes after that too-expensive dinner out, or to raise, transport, slaughter, pack and ship those magnificent steaks and all-American cheeseburgers which just magically appear as finished products because you want them to, and it assumes that when the doors to your apartment or office or studio need to open or shut or lock, they do this because it is what you wish them to do, just as water appears at the tap and your own shit goes away politely, because this is what you expect of them without a thought as to HOW.
So get back to me, about how bitchen these tech-gimmicks are, when your building is beset with leaks so pervasive that mold, mosquitoes and rats are beginning to notice such a reliable supply of water (for them instead of you), when the doors are coming loose from their hinges and nobody can remember how to change a lock on them because they've been too busy chasing magnificent fortune by investing in tech stocks instead of learning and applying the essential trades which make civilization even possible in the first place.
You take much for granted, my friend. But I can guarantee you, that every single necessity or luxury or mechanism or device you ever use day in and day out, has been provided for you by those who cannot afford to take ANYTHING for granted, especially the integrity of the tasks they can only execute with REAL tools in hand. And if you were to ask any of them, in the sweatshops and boiler rooms and killing floors of civilization you are at ease to pretend as though they don't exist, whether or not AI is making their jobs easier, or making it so they don't have to do them at all, I doubt you'd get the answer you have already decided is the best one: that upward mobility is its own reward, no matter whom it costs. Are they simply lesser beings, than you?
You make a lot of good points about the importance of skilled labor—and believe me, I’m not arguing against it. I have all the respect in the world for the people who keep the real world running.
But you’re missing the heart of what I was saying.
My post wasn’t about ignoring the value of hands-on work. It was about mental labor—specifically how we adapt when we build new tools. When we invent something like a calculator, GPS, or AI, it doesn’t erase the need for plumbers or carpenters any more than a hammer erased the need for a skilled hand to use it. It shifts mental effort onto new frontiers. That's what I meant about water flowing: human energy finds new paths when old tasks are automated.
I’m not glorifying tech for tech’s sake. I’m saying if we use these tools wisely, they open space for deeper thinking, not less. Civilization didn’t stall when we stopped grinding wheat by hand—it accelerated.
The real risk isn’t technology itself. It’s whether we stay curious, keep learning, and don’t get lazy with the new freedom. That was—and still is—my point.
Let’s just say, I have good days & bad days. On the bad ones, nobody but those who work the trades has any right to breathe air. Fortunately, I tend to have more good ones, where I lay off on trying to force the world into making sense to me, and just try to enjoy it as it is…. though I do persist in wondering, just who exactly in this strange new mostly-digital world is going to fix the plumbing, nonetheless.
Not to mention: ELECTRICITY. For all its hype, this 'artificial intelligence' is nothing but yet another over-rated light bulb, in that it is entirely useless without electricity. Where does that come from? What resources must be expended on a nonstop basis in order for us to have it? What skills & expertise are required for your building not to burn down starting with a single spark in a single faulty receptacle? Why is copper wiring safer than aluminum, and where do either of these come from, and who sees to it by doing what, that they do? When the power goes out, who has done what in order for it to come back on? (Ever seen a line crew re-installing a live high-wattage trunk line in the middle of the night during a blizzard? I have, and the printed circuit that can do that has not yet been printed, nor ever will be....)
As cost/benefit analyses go, if one were to take account of how much electricity AI requires, versus how much wattage everything else requires no matter how smart anyone thinks they are for using clever-seeming gimmicks requiring exponentially greater production of wattage than everything else combined, I for one call this 'AI' what it is: a TOY. And an expensive, dangerous and ultimately unnecessary one, at that.
And I know a thing or two about what tools really are, and about what simply does not get done without someone's knowing how to use them.
You speak of water flowing and doors being opened.... that I know of, no digital gimmick has been developed as yet which can install doors or rig buildings with plumbing systems, or for that matter, even advise in an informed manner as to whether one ought to use a power drill, or a screwdriver, or both, in the course of these tasks, all of which require skill, experience, and hands-on expertise, or they will simply not get done.
The departure I must take from your rather urbane and insular reasoning is the same as I have taken from this entire obsession with technological developments as their own reward, and it is summarized in a single, simple query: who's gonna fix the plumbing?
The entire modern way of life, with all its amenities and marvels and comforts, relies on the steady availability of a number of rather mundane and even unpleasant resources, human ones. These include not only a ready supply of cheap labor to do everything from washing dishes to slaughtering livestock to stitching garments to pruning hedges, but also to perhaps an even greater extent, skilled practitioners of thoroughly analog trades who can.... install doors for you apartment-dwelling urbanites to open at your convenience with nary a thought as to how they got there or why they work as designed (a door is one of the most crucial mechanisms of civilization, try living without them for a while if you don't believe me), or figure out why water (or sewage...) is going anywhere BUT where you need it to go, and fix it.
Your whole presentation here is front-loaded with the urbane presumptions of everyday systems and infrastructures simply existing because you want them to, and operating as intended because it annoys you when they don't and might cause you some inconvenience.
But if you had ever installed a door, which can be a way more intricate and demanding task than you assume by the time the thing is made to fit properly, open and shut smoothly, and latch & lock safely, you might have a different appreciation for just how much content this throwaway metaphor, of technology opening doors for you, really calls on. If you had ever started from scratch and finished with a structure fully fitted with pipe and fixtures and drains and vents so that, only then, water would go where you want it to, you might re-think the idea of using the flow of water as some inevitable given as well.
Burt no need, right? The upscale-urban mindset, ever concerned with upward mobility and interest rates and where to go on one's next lavish & exotic vaycay, simply assumes that some mystical 'they' will always be available to wash those dishes after that too-expensive dinner out, or to raise, transport, slaughter, pack and ship those magnificent steaks and all-American cheeseburgers which just magically appear as finished products because you want them to, and it assumes that when the doors to your apartment or office or studio need to open or shut or lock, they do this because it is what you wish them to do, just as water appears at the tap and your own shit goes away politely, because this is what you expect of them without a thought as to HOW.
So get back to me, about how bitchen these tech-gimmicks are, when your building is beset with leaks so pervasive that mold, mosquitoes and rats are beginning to notice such a reliable supply of water (for them instead of you), when the doors are coming loose from their hinges and nobody can remember how to change a lock on them because they've been too busy chasing magnificent fortune by investing in tech stocks instead of learning and applying the essential trades which make civilization even possible in the first place.
You take much for granted, my friend. But I can guarantee you, that every single necessity or luxury or mechanism or device you ever use day in and day out, has been provided for you by those who cannot afford to take ANYTHING for granted, especially the integrity of the tasks they can only execute with REAL tools in hand. And if you were to ask any of them, in the sweatshops and boiler rooms and killing floors of civilization you are at ease to pretend as though they don't exist, whether or not AI is making their jobs easier, or making it so they don't have to do them at all, I doubt you'd get the answer you have already decided is the best one: that upward mobility is its own reward, no matter whom it costs. Are they simply lesser beings, than you?
You make a lot of good points about the importance of skilled labor—and believe me, I’m not arguing against it. I have all the respect in the world for the people who keep the real world running.
But you’re missing the heart of what I was saying.
My post wasn’t about ignoring the value of hands-on work. It was about mental labor—specifically how we adapt when we build new tools. When we invent something like a calculator, GPS, or AI, it doesn’t erase the need for plumbers or carpenters any more than a hammer erased the need for a skilled hand to use it. It shifts mental effort onto new frontiers. That's what I meant about water flowing: human energy finds new paths when old tasks are automated.
I’m not glorifying tech for tech’s sake. I’m saying if we use these tools wisely, they open space for deeper thinking, not less. Civilization didn’t stall when we stopped grinding wheat by hand—it accelerated.
The real risk isn’t technology itself. It’s whether we stay curious, keep learning, and don’t get lazy with the new freedom. That was—and still is—my point.
Let’s just say, I have good days & bad days. On the bad ones, nobody but those who work the trades has any right to breathe air. Fortunately, I tend to have more good ones, where I lay off on trying to force the world into making sense to me, and just try to enjoy it as it is…. though I do persist in wondering, just who exactly in this strange new mostly-digital world is going to fix the plumbing, nonetheless.
Not to mention: ELECTRICITY. For all its hype, this 'artificial intelligence' is nothing but yet another over-rated light bulb, in that it is entirely useless without electricity. Where does that come from? What resources must be expended on a nonstop basis in order for us to have it? What skills & expertise are required for your building not to burn down starting with a single spark in a single faulty receptacle? Why is copper wiring safer than aluminum, and where do either of these come from, and who sees to it by doing what, that they do? When the power goes out, who has done what in order for it to come back on? (Ever seen a line crew re-installing a live high-wattage trunk line in the middle of the night during a blizzard? I have, and the printed circuit that can do that has not yet been printed, nor ever will be....)
As cost/benefit analyses go, if one were to take account of how much electricity AI requires, versus how much wattage everything else requires no matter how smart anyone thinks they are for using clever-seeming gimmicks requiring exponentially greater production of wattage than everything else combined, I for one call this 'AI' what it is: a TOY. And an expensive, dangerous and ultimately unnecessary one, at that.
And I know a thing or two about what tools really are, and about what simply does not get done without someone's knowing how to use them.