One of the benefits of the work I do, is I get to work closely with a diverse set of key roles, across a diverse cross-section of industries, often with overlapping components coming from different perspectives. It gives me the opportunity to "gain experience" (second-hand) from experts across multiple fields and who have generally gathered a lot of practical experience in their field also. In some ways, it is like having a very slow internet connection to information, with the difference that the information is trustable due to the relationship and experience depth.
And this came to mind as in a session with a manufacturing quality manager today, we were talking about innovation restrictions due to standardisation and the possible future of AI in the processes they use. Because while automation is possible using robots, currently these is too much variation in the quality. As while the robot does a more consistent job by far, it doesn't have "the eye" to adjust itself for variations in the materials or conditions, whereas an experienced technician can, and can also recognise when things didn't go well, being able to identify errors before an inspection.
In the area my client is in, the error rate is lower for humans. But of course, humans come with their own set of variables, compared to a robot, as humans have illness, bad days, hangovers, fights with family, money problems, tiredness, pains in their body and sneeze from time to time. All of the variables introduce error potential.
What we spent some time talking about today though, was how people generally use AI today to fill gaps that they are unable to perform, or to do it faster than they can do themselves. For instance, my client was talking about calculating a balance for his home air system to keep it stable, and after messing around with the equations manually, he ended up doing it through AI instead. But what he recognised at this point, was something a lot of people are failing to truly appreciate - for the information to be useful, you still have to know what you are doing.
Well before generative AI as we know it today, I identified this a few decades ago with parts designers, where there were a mix of young and old engineers working together. The younger were far more efficient at generating a design, but the "doesn't work" rate of the design was much higher. The reason I identified was that the older designers who grew up learning through experience and manual technical drawing, had a better understanding of the reality of what they were designing, a better spatial awareness, and the ability to think through before committing to paper, than the younger ones. They were able to visualise the problem and the practical implications of the solution, and see what would and wouldn't work. The younger had far less of this ability.
It is not what you know, it is how you are able to apply it.
We are surrounded by information, but having it there at our fingertips doesn't mean it is useful. From an example I used to day, we can all go onto YouTube and get a DiY video that steps us through anything we might need. I have used many of them while renovating the house, but it isn't as easy as it appears, because the videos come with assumptions on experience, as well as equipment. For example, it is pretty easy to fill seams between drywall panels according to a video. However, it also requires understanding of different materials, variations in the materials, what happens if gaps are a little too wide, how to use a trowel, the pressure applied and a host of other aspects that a single video will not likely cover. Not only that, to do it well consistently, it is also going to take practice. With enough good practice under the belt though, and it is easy.
Often today, we tend confuse knowing or appearing to know, with able to do. For instance, my wife is in recruiting and she gets a lot of CVs from people who have used AI to create the cover letter. At first glance, all is well, but upon interviewing the same person, things start to fall apart, as the experience and the personality of the person, does not align with the information they have provided and it is never that the person is actually better than they appear on paper.
Knowing is not doing.
It is very obvious. But as the current environment is digital and generally has some degree of invisibility in the process, which means people feel more comfortable padding their resume. But again, long term, this doesn't tend to work out well, because ultimately they are going to have to prove their ability in the workplace. And a lot are failing.
I was reading an article the other day about trade school graduates in Finland and how the companies that hire them now have to train them in the use of what would have been regarded as basic equipment. This is because the "quality" of their practical ability has decreased so much, due to the far higher amount of online courses they are taking. They are getting the knowledge, but not the practical experience required to be proficient. Most of what they have is theoretical only.
And I think that this is what we are going to have to broach as a species, where we are going to have to revaluate what "valuable information" actually is, because if it isn't applicable, is it still valuable? I would suspect that lot of the information we each consume today, actually has very little practical application in our lives, yet we feel better for having it. I think that this is because we have been conditioned to believe that having knowledge is valuable, without having to apply it to our world.
Philosophically speaking, this is what philosophy is about. The love of wisdom. Wisdom is the application of knowledge, not the collection of knowledge. We are collectors at heart, but especially these days, we needn't collect knowledge, because that is at our fingertips. Instead, what we should be collecting is wisdom, which is the ability to apply what we learn, meaning, having the skills to use the knowledge effectively.
As said, I work with a diverse group of people with a wide range of personalities and skillsets. The most effective of them, and the ones who tend to enjoy their life, aren't the ones who know the most, but the ones who can apply what they know in ways that empower them in daily life. They aren't the ones who sit around, they are the ones doing. They learn new knowledge to empower them to be able to do more, and create more. It is an active knowledge pool, not a passive reservoir they keep filling.
All the answers are at our fingertips.
But what wisdom can we use?
Taraz
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One thing to keep in mind about robotics in factories is that AI is improving over time and while humans may have lower error rate for now that will not last... Also you have to pay humans salaries and benefits, robots you can buy and there is no ongoing large costs. This is what USA is working on right now and it will eliminate China labor cost advantage in the near future.
Robotics is the next big investment area, there will be big money made there. Interestingly, despite my dislike of Tesla, I believe Tesla is the best AI investment right now. They are rolling out robot-taxi in Texas right now and these AI Robotic taxies will be responsible for most of the Tesla valuation in a few short years, additionally consumer robotics would be the next big thing after Robotic taxis...
Oh for sure. This was another part of the conversation. Not only that, because people are getting worse, the robots will close the gap faster also. For this particular case though, it is for high-pressure parts and out of 200,000 welds, there can be zero leaks. The robots can't do it, but the people can see the errors. For now. All will change in a few years.
I suspect so. I also see that "car sales" will decrease over time, as most who don't drive often will opt to take taxi or self-driving car share services. Apartment building body corporate will buy a few cars and leave them in the carpark for tenants to use/rent and there will be overall, less cars on the road. The volume game will reduce, the SaaS models increase.
I think the concept that wisdom involves not only gathering knowledge, but also practicing is very important today. In the world going to be automated, we should develop practical skills together with theoretical knowledge for success in any area.
The challenge we face to get the skills, is that they take time to develop and we are increasingly impatient. Instead of developing, we look for something to provide an answer. We are becoming increasingly incapable and reliant.
I think that is part of the reason school and education is still important even though there isn't as much emphasis on those things anymore. I remember learning to find the slope of a line the old fashioned way. It wasn't until we learned derivatives that we realized just how easy it can be, but you still had to know that old way for any of it to make sense. If you learn one piece without the other, there is a huge disconnect. I think of the people who never went on to take calculus and they are missing out on half the story by not ever learning about derivatives. Of course, they probably don't care, but looking at it from my point of view, it's a little sad.
Correct. And it is also important to realise that the brain develops based on exposure and repetition - it doesn't grow its structure by just having answers. People sit their kids in front of a screen, and the cost to the brain is immense.
Very true. My wife and I were just talking about this with her sister and brother in law the other day.
Your blog answered many of the questions I had in mind, especially regarding theoretical knowledge and its contradiction with practical knowledge.
I have taken many online courses, and they were very valuable, but I found myself unable to apply them. I have always asked myself why, simply put, there must be practical, field-based support. Anything you gain knowledge from is applied in the same way, and then you are asked to invent something new of your own and apply it several times. This is the teaching method.
I look it at from the perspective of surfing. I can read a book on surfing, and know everything about the technique. But the first time out in the water, I am going to fall off.
Of course, Artificial intelligence is not coming to replace human effort 100% as some people may think, well, maybe, it will in the far future, when it becomes very much advanced. That's why acquiring AI skills is important, infact,it might turn out to be the most valuable skill in a couple of decades. In that case, it's clear that to achieve the best results, there has to be a combination of AI and human capabilities, especially in industries. After all it's the human intellect that gave birth to AI so it shouldn't be strange if it still relies on human intellect to operate at full capacity.
Having AI skills isn't going to be very valuable, unless you are smart enough to truly write code to improve AI models - and that is out of the skills of 99.99% of people already.
Today, it is common to see people who are armed with theoretical knowledge. There are many different print and electronic media available for researching theoretical issues. But by using only these theoretical facts in a certain process, many problems arise. Practical experience is very important to solve a problem properly when it arises. Executive positions in high-end companies are held by older people with more practical experience. They have acquired the ability to find solutions to problems in situ through experience over time. Give an executive position to a young person who is full of knowledge. Undoubtedly, the company has to face many serious problems.
A lot of the conversation online is also theoretical, without practical experience. People argue through googled theory and quotes, without having the understanding or experience to create a thought for themselves.
I could use some of your
wisdomadvice. I am considering saving up and buying a camera at some point in the future. Mostly for photos of my art but also maybe some sky photos as well. I never had a camera before. Do you think that something like this would work well for me? Or would you recommend a different camera? I am not willing to pay much more than this/ saving more would take me very long time.I don't know much about those kinds of cameras, but looking at it quickly it seems decent. I'd suggest testing one out in store, and having a few similar options to test also. That one seems to be more geared towards video also, so it might be possible to do some Hive video content :)
I see the most use of AI on social media right now, people I know are using AI to create different kinds of things. But I think we don't want to take the time anymore, we're basically trying to do everything through AI. But it's true that in the current artificial age, even if any work can be done perfectly through AI, but we are becoming very fragile.
It makes creating stuff easy and anyone can do it. The question is, who is consuming it all?
You have said it all. It is not how much you know but how well you can apply it. Sometimes I see my friends who were not as intelligent and smart as me but they were getting better results in life than me. I later get to found out they were always eager to try something even without having a full knowledge of it. Just trying and failing, getting so much experience to give them the result they ever wanted.
Knowledge is important but without actions and implementation you cannot get the experience to be good at what you do.
I heard a quote recently that the world is run by C-grade students. It is rarely the one who knows the most, who is the most effective.