[qsort]

There's the old joke that many people who fear they could be replaced by AI are in fact too self-aggrandizing, they could be replaced by a 12-line python script.

If you want to get a bit meaner, you could profitably replace some people with the empty python script.

[emp17344]

Weirdly misanthropic. Jobs exist for a reason - people who could be replaced by a python script already have been.

[constantcrying]

If you work in any large organization you know that there are people who exists so that other people can not do their jobs.

[keybored]

- I could program a person in C

- They could be replaced by a 12-line Python script

Predictably HN-misanthropic is more like it.

[more_corn]

I’ve encountered many jobs that could be replaced with a script. When I was young and dumb I proposed replacing a whole department with a simple web app. The app was already finished and showed better success rates than the team of 6. The proposal was rejected.

[saagarjha]

You’re assuming that companies are efficient at discovering which jobs these are.

[emp17344]

You’re making an assumption that you can effectively judge who contributes value to the business and who does not.

[more_corn]

Correct. For everyone’s sake I would hope this is possible.

[saagarjha]

Sometimes!

[atoav]

That is how it should be yeah.

In reality you will find pockets of utter incompetence in nearly every organization of considerable size. And I don't mean people who sometimes have bad days (who hasn't?) or struggle with particularly hard tasks (who doesn't?).

I mean long-time employee who lack the ability to wield the core tools and lack the core skills needed in their job. Imagine a blacksmith that doesn't know how to use a hammer and while they can talk very entertainingly and deeply about metals they certainly seem to fail at doing anything with it.

Now you may think I am exaggerating. I am not. Anyone in this thread who has worked in first level IT support will be probably agree. Now I am an educator, with a strong believe that nobody (aside those affected by certain medical conditions) is outside of learning and becoming better. I am known for my extreme patience and have won my provinces teaching price. Take this into account when I continue describing here.

We are talking about secretaries whose main tool (as a fraction of their workday) is the email client and calendar functionality, yet they fail to grasp the fundamental "IT for seniors" concepts of even the most basic version of the software they interact with more than 6 hours a day. In fact it is worse, they know they are bad and still file repeated advice into the mental equivalent of a paper shredder. I know of a person who has been doing this for 10 years now. Don't get me wrong, they somehow manage to not have it falling apart, but it is even exhausting to look at it from afar.

What would you think of a truck driver that after years on the job repeatedly asked you how to start the ignition?

[qsort]

I'm joking, that wasn't meant to be serious commentary. I don't actually agree with the idea that most jobs are bullshit.

[deadbabe]

Some people could be replaced with nothing at all.

[palmotea]

> Some people could be replaced with nothing at all.

The kicker is it's often not the guy you think it is.

[bgwalter]

I remember the joke differently. I heard it first way before the "AI" craze from an Italian philosopher (the original program must have been recorded in the 1980s and then rebroadcast):

"People who think they can be replaced by AI will be replaced."

In other words, the cheerleaders are so dumb that they probably could be replaced.

[PaulHoule]

The classic book Remember me to God

https://www.amazon.com/Remember-Me-to-God/dp/B000LQ2SHG

talks about how people in low social positions (say a Bank Teller) have no opportunities to distinguish themself but have opportunities to make mistakes that they'll be held accountable for. Whereas if you are in a high social position you get to grade your own paper, get credit for your successes, and "fail up" when you screw up.

Given that neural networks get it wrong some of the kind they might be better to fill the high status positions (make up crazy stuff to say for Satya Nadella and Eric Schmidt for instance)