[snrplfth]

I disagree. Literally billions of people, many of them living on $4 to $10 dollars a day, without indoor running water or reliable electricity, have cellphones - compact computers connecting to a massive global telecommunications infrastructure. Computing capacities (and hence, productivities) which would have had their own floors of buildings and dedicated staff in the 1950s are now semi-disposable consumer goods. Because technology got better.

How do they operate them? Well, through the relatively simple, user-friendly interfaces. How do they maintain them? Well, they're modular and inexpensive - if a single component, like a battery, breaks, you replace it. If too many components break, you just get another one. Of course this does require a certain level of local support and expertise, but no, I absolutely don't think it's that much more difficult than maintaining 19th C. industrial assets, especially because of how fast and affordable modern telecommunications and transportation are. Is it broken? Call an expert on another continent, or have one fly in. Do you need new parts? Already ordered, and they'll be here next week, for a low freight charge. Sure beats waiting for the steamship to come in, or the telegraph boy to bring a message from head office reading "Could not replicate the engine malfunction, please try halting and re-starting the steam boiler."

[zdkl]

> [...] semi-disposable consumer goods. Because technology got better.

In my humble opinion this is the flawed assumption in the line of thought you advance. Technology isn't universally disposable, that depends on the replacability and support structure around any specific source of complexity (edit: and purchasing power)

You haven't solved much of anything with automation if the final word is "don't worry how it works, we'll come over and bill you to fix it"

[snrplfth]

> You haven't solved much of anything with automation if the final word is "don't worry how it works, we'll come over and bill you to fix it"

Odd, because that's how almost all "automation" in everyday life works. How many people actually understand the operation of, or could fix, their dishwashers? Their cars? Even their coffee-makers? Yet dishes are washed, cars are driven and coffee is made, mostly uneventfully.

Is industrial technology different? A little, but not that much - if it doesn't work, there's someone out there who can fix it, for a cost. If communications are too difficult, you might keep them in-house and pay them a wage. If not, maybe they work for another company, and you pay them for their time. Or just buy a new machine when the old one stops working.

[zdkl]

I recognise the truth in what you say. We both apparently live in areas where we can afford to ring up the repair guy for fixing or replacemement.

Why you assume that is universally true is beyond me though. How do you expect societies that are incapable of adequately maintaining roads or developing safe architecture to house their population to sprout the mentality and savoir-faire for complex operations?

For sure my argument is not universal either, but I believe you transpose properties you are familiar with to a world you are not.