Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

One of the oldest phrases in computing is still true. Rats. Some folks thought AI would fix this.

If I meant to find the sum of 2 and 3 but typed 2+4, I would have the wrong answer. Rats. Inputing the wrong information produces the wrong output. So said Charles Babbage some 120 years ago and so have said countless others since.

No worries. AI will fix all this. AI will find the answer we seek in a great big pile of stuff we have. We know the answer is there. Some agentic chattering bot avatar will find it for us and write a concise essay on the topic. Right?

Well, probably not. I am sure I put that document in here somewhere. Well, maybe I didn’t. Multiply that uncertainty by a number (maybe 1,000 or maybe 1,000,000,000) and I have more uncertainty. Okay, my colleagues did it, right? Probably not them either.

It seems we are back to the same old thing: if I am diligent everyday and record things as I should and put them in the right place at the right time, things will go better for me.

Sigh, I thought all these new tools would relieve me of the need for diligence. I continue to wish. I could do better. I guess we all should.