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[ed. I apologize for the late delivery of IRTW. It seems driving through North Carolina and attending a high school reunion this weekend did not lead to a productive schedule.]
You may have noticed, but I do love a good survey. However, even I am feeling a bit jaded by them, despite a couple of good ones being published this week. So, aside from surveys, what else did I read?
Augmenting the replacement
Ben Thompson in Stratechery had an interesting post this week, where he revisited a 2018 article of his comparing different philosophies of technology, using the spread of desktop computers and recent approaches to AI as a lens. It’s a long article (to be honest, it could have benefited from some of Phil’s editing), but his central argument is that there is a fundamental difference between those who view technology as a replacement for human tasks and those who see it as a tool for augmentation.
He identifies certain vendors, such as Google, Facebook, and later Salesforce, as examples of companies that see technology as a replacement for what humans would otherwise be doing.
In Google’s view, computers help you get things done — and save you time — by doing things for you. [snip] Google Photos will not only sort and tag your photos, but now propose specific edits; Google News will find your news for you, and Maps will find you new restaurants and shops in your neighborhood.
Other vendors whose technology predated Google and Facebook saw technology more as a form of augmentation. Microsoft and Apple tended to see technology as an add-on.
computers are an aid to humans, not their replacement
Thompson continues by arguing that these differing philosophies are evident in the various platforms' approaches to AI. He also presents a more detailed and complex argument about consumer versus enterprise adoption, but I’ll pause here for now.
In EdTech, we also have competing visions of technology and AI centered around replacement versus augmentation. The latter is mentioned far more frequently. There are countless examples, but the title of Marc Watkins' opinion piece in Inside Higher Ed captures this sentiment perfectly.