The Case against Automation

In "Skilled Perception, Authenticity, and The Case against Automation," David Zoller argued that we shouldn't automate everything.  Automating an activity implies that satisfactory performance of that task is sufficient; there is no need to do it excellently.   But doing something excellently is necessary for happiness (cf. Aristotle).

Moreover, each person defines himself by certain vocations (such as being a parent or a teacher or a firefighter), and fulfilling each vocation requires doing certain types of activities.  Automating those activities would contradict the requirement of the vocation.  For example, how can one be a teacher if the associated activities such as demonstrating and explaining something for one's students are done by machines or computers?

Acquiring the skills to perform the duties of a vocation requires training, which requires activity.  One cannot learn to perform a task that, because it is automated, one never does. Because humans and the time and resources available are limited, one can pursue only a limited number of vocations, and so one's skills are limited, which makes the skills that one has mastered more valuable as a sign of one's competence and ability to accomplish something.

David Zoller, "Skilled Perception, Authenticity, and The Case against Automation," in Robot Ethics 2.0, Patrick Lin, Ryan Jenkins, and Keith Abney, editors, Oxford University Press, 2017. ISBN: 978-0-19-065295-1.

Wuerl on Amoris Laetitia

This month, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, D.C., issued Sharing in the Joy of Love in Marriage and Family: Amoris Laetitia Pastoral Plan.  The document discusses the apostolic exhortation written by Pope Francis and proclaims that all Catholics are called to experience the joy of love.

The desire to love and to be loved is a deep, enduring part of our human experience. God has written onto each human heart the desire for self-giving love, reflected in the divine plan for marriage and family. That plan offers a profound “yes” to true joy in love. It gives us an invitation to experience Christian hope in the love of God that never ends.

The archbishop emphasized that those who have been hurt by others especially need our love:

With humility and compassion, the Church also wishes to encounter, to listen to, and to accompany those whose experience of human love is marked by disappointment, pain, and obstacles.

Their pain is made worse by our society, which is secular, materialistic, and individualistic:

Particularly challenging is an individualism that is concerned only with one’s desires, as well as the throwaway culture that sweeps away marriage and family whenever they prove inconvenient or tiresome.

The often not so silent pressures of popular culture forcefully propose a “new normal” that sells short the dignity of the human person.

Pastors and ministers must lead the process of accompaniment with love:

The Holy Father gives priority to the practice of pastoral accompaniment, which in its most fundamental aspect involves leading others closer to God. We begin each encounter mindful of everyone’s innate human dignity.

[Accompaniment] calls for a conversion of heart. The minister is called to recognize that beyond the assurance of doctrinal statements he has to encounter the people entrusted to his care in the concrete situations they live and to accompany them on a journey of growth in the faith.

In addition, in our families, parishes, and communities, we are all called to help each other grow in faith and hope and love.

Accompaniment is a collaborative effort of priests and laity who understand themselves to be missionary disciples, who experience the love of the Lord in their encounter with him and who seek to share it with others. Pope Francis invites all of us to this practice of accompaniment.

In particular, the family can be "the site of God’s revelation lived out in practice."  But we must recognize that no one is perfect; it is not a matter of who is right and who is wrong; everyone needs God's mercy.

Each of us is a sinner in need of wholeness. ... Each of us is in need of this healing, and so we journey together as brothers and sisters united in our common need for the love and mercy of God that heal every broken human heart.