Be Wary of Digital Deskilling(calnewport.com)
calnewport.com
Be Wary of Digital Deskilling
https://calnewport.com/be-wary-of-digital-deskilling/
6 comments
> Is there a way to meaningfully be wary of it?
Refusing to participate. May involve accepting lower productive output and thus "standard of living".
Considering how society-at-large handled the smartphone, I can definitely see concern for general cognitive decline as a result of externalizing ever more mental activity to machines. As well as the concerns voiced by Frank Herbert in the concept of Butlerian Jihad.
> There was a point when being a dev required things like download size optimization and performance profiling. How many devs today even conceptually know of those, yet alone do them?
Way too few, with a general decline of quality and much waste as a result.
Refusing to participate. May involve accepting lower productive output and thus "standard of living".
Considering how society-at-large handled the smartphone, I can definitely see concern for general cognitive decline as a result of externalizing ever more mental activity to machines. As well as the concerns voiced by Frank Herbert in the concept of Butlerian Jihad.
> There was a point when being a dev required things like download size optimization and performance profiling. How many devs today even conceptually know of those, yet alone do them?
Way too few, with a general decline of quality and much waste as a result.
To me, "be wary" means interrogate the intentions and motives of the people boosting certain technologies and applications of said tech.
Don't consume industry "show-and-tells" unexamined.
For me it doesn't mean "don't use AI coding tools", but rather when I do use them I should make sure I'm thinking about my own "agency" as it relates to the work I'm doing and ultimately accountable for. How do I ensure I'm centering my own skills as I use these tools and not off-loading "too much"? What do I consider "too much"?
It's going to be different for everyone.
Don't consume industry "show-and-tells" unexamined.
For me it doesn't mean "don't use AI coding tools", but rather when I do use them I should make sure I'm thinking about my own "agency" as it relates to the work I'm doing and ultimately accountable for. How do I ensure I'm centering my own skills as I use these tools and not off-loading "too much"? What do I consider "too much"?
It's going to be different for everyone.
Those things are still very important at my workplace. Particularly performance profiling.
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Not sure this marxist deskilling lens really adds much to the prevailing question around replacing skilled labour.
It amounts to machine does the work either way
It amounts to machine does the work either way
The value of skill changes over time. There was a point when being a dev required things like download size optimization and performance profiling.
How many devs today even conceptually know of those, yet alone do them?