Is this disempowerment? It seems like humans are more empowered to manipulate software on a scale previously impossible. The human skills on the level of reading/writing code are atrophying, but in this case they are being replaced with thinking skills one layer of abstraction further up. I don’t think that can continue forever, so in that sense I guess this is a step along the way to gradual disempowerment, but only in the sense that invention of the computer was.
It’s disempowerment because one further meta-level up, the humans have lost the ability to monitor the architecture of their computer programs, because they’re locked in power struggles with other corporations who have already delegated their authorship of code to computer programs.
Is this disempowerment? It seems like humans are more empowered to manipulate software on a scale previously impossible. The human skills on the level of reading/writing code are atrophying, but in this case they are being replaced with thinking skills one layer of abstraction further up. I don’t think that can continue forever, so in that sense I guess this is a step along the way to gradual disempowerment, but only in the sense that invention of the computer was.
But all gradual disempowerment is local empowerment, in your terms. You’re rejecting the premise, not disputing the argument.
It’s disempowerment because one further meta-level up, the humans have lost the ability to monitor the architecture of their computer programs, because they’re locked in power struggles with other corporations who have already delegated their authorship of code to computer programs.