alt Hacker NewsWhen you mechanise, you take the "meaning" out of the effort and that, in of itself, is death of human pursuit of the venture.
The industrial revolution did that to battles and wars and it inspired Tolkein's lores to a considerable degree. He loathed what mechanisation had done.
I feel something similar is happening to Mathematics. I shudder to think what would come of other human pursuit this mechanisation targets next.
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Maybe, actually, it will rehumanize math by formulating its ideas in a manner that allow their comprehension without 10-15 years of mechanized practice. The average human might understand quantum mechanics and Maxwell’s equations with the right conceptual interface.
This. Farming used to be such a rich and meaningful job where you connected with the earth, until machinery came along and ruined it.
I loathe what's happened with agscience, all farms should be plowed by hand with donkeys and plows.
Without the mechanization of book production, how many would have read his works?
For many on HN, mechanising things is the reason of their existence ...
(and I don't even think that is exaggerated very much)