Rachel Thomas revives classic 'Ironies of Automation': designers leave humans the tasks they can't automate
math_rachel · x · 2026-10-24
- Rachel Thomas quotes Lisanne Bainbridge's classic paper 'Ironies of Automation': designers who try to eliminate the human operator leave behind an arbitrary collection of tasks they couldn't figure out how to automate, with little thought given to supporting the operator.
- The decades-old human-factors insight is a pointed warning for today's agent-automation wave: automation doesn't remove work, it stacks the leftovers onto humans in worse form.
Related event: Rachel Thomas Revisits Classic "Ironies of Automation"(3 posts)→
More from AGI Musings
- Cheap code isn't enough — institutions won't rewrite their stacks until forced — jd_pressman · 2026-10-24
- AI safety debate: those right on AI cyberattacks may be wrong on bioweapons — basedjensen · 2026-10-24
- Parent uses 214-revision document history to overturn daughter's false AI-cheating accusation — AlexTensor · 2026-10-24
- Flash-to-Silverlight playbook: AI may force a rewrite of software defaults — jd_pressman · 2026-10-24
- AI in bio researchers warn: too many tool builders and benchmarks, too little real science — anshulkundaje · 2026-10-24
- Anna Salamon floats taking down the Internet if AI hardware bugs prove severe — jd_pressman · 2026-10-24