Gadgets dumbing us down

Man has been described as an animal, if a highly evolved one. Animals are driven by survival, instinct - in a word, programming. Yet man can think beyond programming; just because we can doesn't mean we do - a concept which has evolved through the centuries into systems by which we draw and redraw the boundaries of our pursuits.

These boundaries we determine by ethics - moral principles governing human behavior. "Ethics" derives from the Greek "ethos" meaning habit, custom, or character. Put technology in the mix and we ask by what principles should invention be guided? What habits and custom might technology replace or enhance, or affect? The answer shifts with time, possibilities, and hopefully, awareness.

It's time to ask the question in a more organized and deliberate way: Automation is making us dumber. Should we let it?

In an examination of this very issue last month in the Wall Street Journal, Pulitzer finalist Nicholas Carr considered research dating back half a century which illustrated that the more machines do for us, the less we think. And the less we think, the worse we perform.

So do we toss the baby robot out with the metaphoric bathwater? Let's see.

Circa 1950, Harvard professor studies factory workers coping with new automation. Result: New machines leave workers with bland, less demanding jobs. Workers "freed" by technology don't move "up" into more creativity or responsibility; they become bored button pushers instead. Coining a labor industry term, he concludes they've been "deskilled," rather than "up-skilled."

Fast-forward to the 1970s. Aircraft cockpits get smarter. While it's also true that such aircraft automation also helps prevent common problems, aviation experts such as Britain's Matthew Ebbatson worry about the resulting "skill fade." His 2007 experiment with jet pilots and simulated engine-outs prove his worry is justified. News flash: Time spent manually flying aircraft is directly proportional to skill level. The FAA releases a report to the same effect in 2013, urging airlines to make changes.

Research continues to confirm the basic idea that automation may be convenient, even helpful, but it's no substitute for human involvement. This is something physicians have begun to complain about; increasing reliance on software-driven systems to diagnose and deal with patients, some docs say, is limiting their ability to be effective and occasionally leads to preventable mistakes (while perhaps preventing others).

Letting the computers "think" should only go so far. Everyday examples exist too, like cashiers who balk at the use of cash because they can't make change, at least not without the computer. A basic understanding of arithmetic has been long known to be essential to analytical thinking, to general problem-solving.

We need limits; we need to think it through. We need a more advanced system of tech-ethics.

This is about how humans learn. Like robots that adapt with experience, human brains do the same. Without the experience, without hands-on practice, we don't learn - psychology 101.

So, turn off the computers? Of course not, say cognitive scientists. Just ensure man is back in the pilot's seat making decisions.

Shift to "human-centered automation."

Prevailing computer and software design is, as Carr writes, "delegating as much as possible" to the technology, assigning man whatever is left. Man becomes the support, the button pusher, de-skilled.

So reverse it, say experts. Design more systems to put the human talents first, keeping the operator in the decision loop, holding onto that action-feedback-judgment process increasingly delegated to software today. That design philosophy keeps workers' skills in practice. That way, technology remains useful, but secondary. Instead of the sort of programming that has the computer learning and doing more as its skills build without reference to human knowledge, program so the computer "senses" what the human is doing (correctly), and does only whatever's left. Let the technology fill in for the human, not the other way around.

Automation is here to stay. Such programming saves lives, increases health and safety, increases efficiencies, brings information to the isolated, even feeds more of the world's hungry. Nevertheless, the more technologically advanced becomes society, the more it needs philosophy and ethics. What has always set man apart from the rest of nature is his ability to think.

Think-fade: Can't let it happen.

Sholeh Patrick is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Contact her at [email protected].