​Reframing the question about technology.

I think the earlier discussion started off with the wrong framework:

Can machines design?

Of course, I say.

Can machines design in a way that inspires us, excites us, and makes us
envious.

No, I say.


BUT: Can people design far better by using machines than they could without
them? And, similarly, can machines design without people to guide them?

Or even better:

How can we start by considering what people are good at and designing
machines to complement those abilities, so the combination is far more
powerful than either alone, so the combination empowers and enriches people
rather than replacing, deskilling, or enslaving them.

So, let us reframe the question. let us figure out a way to take advantage
of the power of people and of technology both. Human-technology teamwork.

---
Human-technology teamwork. Letting people do what people do best and
machines do what they do best. Together we can do things neither can do
alone.
A calculator is a wonderful Intelligence Amplifier. I'm very good at
formulating problems. I'm not so good at arithmetic, algebra or calculus.
Sure, i studied advanced calculus, but solving equations is not a test of
intelligence, it is a test of perseverance. The creativity comes in writing
the equation. So let me formulate the problem and let mathematica solve
the equations.

And not everything we care about can be put into mathematics. Some can
be put into computer programs. But not everything.

Some requires modes of thought and making that today can only be done by
creative people. But even this wonderful creativity is enhanced through the
use of technology, both to refine the ideas and then to help realize them.

People and machines work according to very different principles. That's a
great advantage. But instead of trying to make use of
this wonderful advantage, all too often we try to make people behave like
machines. We don't take advantage of the complementary powers.

It is a good thing that a hand-held calculator doesn't work the same way
people do: people make arithmetic mistakes. Give people calculators and the
person+calculator is superior to either alone.

---
What's the best chess player in the world?

No, not a machine. Not IBM's Deep Blue

No, not a person.

It is a team of good (but not the best) chess players plus several god (not
not the best) chess programs - the sort you can buy (a popular one is open
source).

These teams can beat the best individual computer and the best individual
machine. The teams exploit the best of human thinking and the best of
machine exploration.

---
Today we automate whatever we can and leave the remains to people, which
invariable requires people to do what we are bad at, and then when we do
that badly and the result is a catastrophe, we blame the people. Human
error. Nope, it is design error, engineering error, industrial error by
forcing us to do what we are bad at.

We even label human creativity as bad. We are attentive to changes that
happen around us. this is the source of much creativity. But in the machine
world we label this"distraction" and call it bad.  Let's change the
equation.

Let's aim for teamwork, not replacement.

--
a side comment just for this list. This is not an argument against anyone's
views expressed on the list. Terry, for example, champions rigorous science
and the power of maths and technology. I am in complete agreement with him.
Others champion the wonderful creative spirit of people. I am in complete
agreement with them.

What I want is a world where we don't argue about which is best or which is
right. Instead, I seek a world where we combine the best of all the
approaches.

Human-technology teamwork.

--
No references.

Well, here is one. The NY Times technology journalist John Markoff has a
new book in which he traces the history of the battle between AI and IA:
Artificial Intelligence versus Intelligence augmentation. (In the book he
places me in the IA camp: you got it right, John!)

Markoff, J. (2015). *Machines of Loving Grace: The Quest for Common Ground
Between Humans and Robots*. New York: Ecco/HarperCollins.

It's a great book. Easy to read, with profound implications.

Don




Don Norman
Prof. and Director, DesignLab, UC San Diego
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