Having worked in manufacturing, I really appreciated this piece. It’s true that much of the knowledge sits outside of databases, often on pen and paper or passed down informally. However, I’d gently push back on the idea that workers are reluctant to document due to fears of automation. While individual concerns may exist, I haven’t seen this as a coordinated resistance. If anything, there’s a real opportunity here for capturing and sharing their expertise could become a way to build leverage, enable re-skilling, and increase their influence in how new tools are developed.
Another thought I had was around the broader framing of AI capabilities. I’m skeptical of the “brain in a box” model where a single system must master every domain. Human cognition isn’t monolithic, our bodies evolved with decentralised, specialised subsystems over millions of years. I think we should embrace that metaphor for AI as well, like a society of minds, with different models handling perception, spatial reasoning, long-term planning, etc., working in concert across a network. That vision feels both more tractable and more aligned with how intelligence actually manifests in the world.
Having worked in manufacturing, I really appreciated this piece. It’s true that much of the knowledge sits outside of databases, often on pen and paper or passed down informally. However, I’d gently push back on the idea that workers are reluctant to document due to fears of automation. While individual concerns may exist, I haven’t seen this as a coordinated resistance. If anything, there’s a real opportunity here for capturing and sharing their expertise could become a way to build leverage, enable re-skilling, and increase their influence in how new tools are developed.
Another thought I had was around the broader framing of AI capabilities. I’m skeptical of the “brain in a box” model where a single system must master every domain. Human cognition isn’t monolithic, our bodies evolved with decentralised, specialised subsystems over millions of years. I think we should embrace that metaphor for AI as well, like a society of minds, with different models handling perception, spatial reasoning, long-term planning, etc., working in concert across a network. That vision feels both more tractable and more aligned with how intelligence actually manifests in the world.