Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by 5701652400 4 days ago
"calculator" ("computer") was a profession. not anymore.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_(occupation)

1 comments

Doesn't that support the point?

Computers came in and "took" the job of calculating numbers (I assume usually budgets and finances), but instead of every layman just using a computer to organize their company's finances, they still hire a professional to use the computer to organize the company's finances. The role shifted, but it wasn't eliminated.

there are literally no more people "computing" by hand. job as defined by "perform calculations by hand" is totally gone. none. nada.

this "shifting-role" rhetoric is very dangerous. making definitions fluid is a very slippery slope. you can arrive at any conclusion you want and support any point you want by changing defintions. seeing it in AI from C-level leaders is very concerning.

Do you object against calling people "farmers" because their way of operating is not the same as how farmers operated 500 years ago?
“Farmer” doesn’t describe a way of operating, it describes a property relationship.

So, no, I wouldn’t object to using that label for the same property relationship even if it came with a different pattern of operation.