Automation Lessons from Ole John Henry

The story of John Henry and labor saving technology are all topics on this episode of The AI Minute. For more on Artificial Intelligence: https://voicesinai.com https://gigaom.com https://byronreese.com https://amzn.to/2vgENbn... Transcript: The story of John Henry is a nineteenth century folk tale, frequently set to music. John Henry was a “steel-driving man” whose job it was to hammer steel spikes into rock. This was done to make holes in which explosives were inserted; explosives which cleared the way for new train track. John Henry was the best of them all. One day, a steam-powered drill was invented to do that same job. John Henry wasn’t about to be replaced by a machine, as his job was his entire reason to exist, so he told his captain, “Well, a man’s gotta act like a man. And before [the] steam drill beats me, I will die, hammer in my hand.” So, he challenged the steam drill to see which of them was better. It was a close contest, but John Henry prevailed. However, the work was so intense that John Henry collapsed and died on the spot immediately after the contest, hammer in his hand. Everyone said that “John Henry died like a man.” I learned the story of John Henry when I was 10 years old. And even then I thought the whole story was crazy. Why didn’t John Henry just get a job running the steam drill? He seems like he would’ve been a great candidate for that job, and it is bound to have paid a good deal better and been a whole lot easier. And the idea that John Henry’s death was somehow noble struck me, even as a child, as ridiculous. He threw his life away to try to prove an unprovable point, that human muscle power would always exceed machine power. And finally, John Henry must have used tools, such as the hammer he died holding. He didn’t insist on hammering spikes with his fist, now did he. So why would he object to a steam-powered hammer? Can you imagine a warehouse that stores bricks getting a forklift and someone who used to carry bricks on their back refusing to use it, challenging the forklift to a contest? Or a mathematician who would rather die with a slide rule in his hand than use the infernal new calculator? Of course not. But the story of John Henry is the story of our mixed feelings about labor saving technologies, one that we are still experiencing today. http://bit.ly/2ElD0q2 gigaom May 20, 2019 at 03:48PM