Automation's Hidden Menace

Robots and AI don't replace highly-skilled humans. But they block those people from training the next generation. Matt Beane's "The Skill Code" explains.

Image: Dall-E3. Prompt: "In the style of a newspaper photograph, a surgical operating room where two robot surgeons are performing an operation on a human patient. Next to the robot surgeons there are two humans who appear bored. They are scrolling on their smartphones. Do not omit any of these details." (I would have preferred a more realistic human body, but my efforts to introduce some blood and gore must have bumped up against guardrails. I was not able to get such an image.)

The other day at my annual eye checkup, I began with a young ophthalmologist, who measured the fluid pressure in my eyes, did some other checks, and had everything ready for my veteran doctor when he walked in.

As they talked over the data, he said, "Hmm, let me take his pressure again."

"See? It's actually a little lower than you wrote," he told his colleague. "The thing is, when you lift his eyelid a little for the machine, you're adding a very slight pressure from your finger. That can make the reading a ve…