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The last time my family was replaced by technology

339 points · 641 comments · megalomanu

  1. 0c3ca83 · · focus · HN ↗
    The last hundred times we automated things, we automated muscles. Today, the number of people employed purely for their muscle is very small.

    This time is the first time we've automated higher level reasoning.

    1. wccrawford · · focus · HN ↗
      I'm not sure I can quite agree with that. I'd say that spreadsheets definitely reduced the need to manually calculate things, and calculators before that, and the abacus before that.

      I basically agree with your "higher level reasoning", but not your statement that we previously only automated muscles.

      1. ZeWaka · · focus · HN ↗
        see: when 'computer' was a job title

        Also relevant: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_obsolete_occupations" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;List_of_obsolete_occupations

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