#tools #weapons #AI #logic #damage #evil #CommonGood #IndividualEvil
The T-shirt reads: “If guns kill people, I guess pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk and spoons make people fat.”
There’s a lot of illogic to unpack there, but let’s try to imagine.
Do people actually blame the tools for the damage THEY do? One could carry this idea into the future. If something good happens, the person did it. If something bad happens, the tool (read: AI, for example) did it.
There currently are people in very high places who use that illogic. Sometimes, if a tool isn’t available to blame, another person usually is.
Here’s how the real logic goes: if you have a tool that you can use for good, by all means use it for that. But, if that same tool can be used for evil, it’s on you to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Tools are tools. Most do good, but also inflict damage. Which way it goes depends in whose hands the tool resides.
How do we keep damage from occurring? It’s not always possible, but we can attempt to mitigate, if not eliminate, damage.
We can try to keep “tools” out of the wrong hands.
It’s not always possible, but we can try.
Then, we can teach our children the proper use of tools. Just because we can make a tool do something, doesn’t mean we should – or even consider it.
Tools were designed to accomplish things that we cannot do with our bare hands. Most animals have the equipment to do damage or good with their bodies alone. We humans, who also invent tools, need tools to accomplish necessary things.
AI is, or will become, a great tool. But, in the wrong hands, can also do damage.
In fact, it will be like the gun mentioned above. Do we want to use AI as a weapon or as a constructive tool?
We, as a people, will have to decide that.
By the way, guns can be used constructively in sports, hunting etc. They can even be a good self-defense weapon.
But, they can also kill unnecessarily.
When they kill unnecessarily, they have ended up with the wrong people. We have to do everything possible to make sure guns and the wrong people are parted.
We used to ask whether a gadget was a tool or a toy. In today’s world, we have to ask whether a gadget is a useful tool or a weapon.
Let’s use every tool in our box in its designed constructive way. Let’s not use them to deliberately injure people or property.
Writing implements don’t misspell, but AI can. Cars don’t drive drunk, but AI can make self-driving cars move erratically if not functioning properly. Eating utensils do not make one fat, unless they are used (by people) too often.
So, let’s tool up for the common good, not the individual evil.
Peter
#tools #jobs #employers #employees #WorkingRelationships
To paraphrase a PayCom TV ad: Are you using the right tools for your job? Why would any company not want you to have the right tools?
To illustrate, the ad shows a ditch digger using only a spoon and a high-rise window washer using only a toothbrush, for example.
The questions posed by the ad, however, are on point.
So many employers throughout the years have skimped on giving their employees the right tools for the job.
Perhaps they were hesitant to make the investment. Such thinking is shortsighted. The employer will either pay now, or pay later for that mistake.
Such thinking also forces employees to “make do” with what they have. That can have varying effects. It can bring out creativity and innovation among employees. It can also create frustration among employees, even to the point that they leave.
Though it may be difficult to have ideal situations in the workplace, it would be wise for employers to see employees simply “making do,” and wonder how much better their operations would work if the employees had the right tools.
In the modern workplace, the “right tools” can change quickly. Technology can become obsolete as soon as it is first integrated into an operation.
It’s a tough ask for employers to constantly update the technology. An employer can be constantly chasing shiny new objects. But the onus is on both employers and employees to find the sweet spot among jobs and tools.
Here’s a good rule: if employers and employees have good communication among each other, and everyone knows where everyone is coming from, that’s a great beginning.
Employees who need better tools need to sell the employer on the advantages of investing in such tools. Employers have to make it clear to employees how much money is available to invest in tools, and what the best bang for that buck is.
Some employers have surveyed employees on what they would like to have to do their jobs better. Answers can vary by the job, of course. But, in all cases, good communication and good working relationships among all concerned are required.
Some unions have resorted to destroying their tools in disputes with employers. Why would any worker destroy the things that THEY work with?
Do they think, by destroying their tools that they are never going to need them again?
In short, good tools make good work and good workers. Even with limited company budgets, employers have to know what tools will give their workers the best productivity.
Sometimes, that requires investment beyond a company’s perceived limit. Sometimes, employees have to innovate and create to compensate for the unavailability of certain tools.
No one wants ditch diggers to only have a spoon, or a window washer to only have a toothbrush. But finding the appropriate tools for various jobs can be a fluid process. Good communication and relationships among all concerned can facilitate that process.
Peter
