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Could it be that we don't have "dark factories" because the moment a workshop turns into an autonomous machine, we reassemble something more complex out of thos
by Archelaos 4y ago
Could it be that we don't have "dark factories" because the moment a workshop turns into an autonomous machine, we reassemble something more complex out of those machines and need again a human operator to manage it? A few decades ago, it took a print shop with several employees to print a brochure. Then came the photocopier, which does it more or less automatically as a sort of "dark printer workshop". We even let them run without supervision in a dark office room. But we still needed someone to collect the copies, bind them, mail them, etc. Then photocopier and binding machine were combined, etc., etc. More and more gets automated and happens "in the dark", but there is always a frontier were human control or intervention becomes necessary. When we cross such a particular frontier, there is typically a new frontier that opens up, while the old frontiers are hardly perceived as such any more. Think of a water pump, for example: it is a "dark factory" that replaces a human-powered well, or of the heating system of a house that runs most of the time without direkt supervision.
- citizenpaul 4y agoI'd guess that a huge of the reason is insurance, regulation and safety laws. Getting a fully automated "dark" factory would require lots of money and skill. Any company that can afford that level of automation is going to operate in a country with various fire codes and insurance requirements that probably out cost the benefit of having zero human oversight. If the humans must be around they might as well work, no reason to invest $50mil automating something the people that have to be there can do. If there are dark factories they are in a place where the authorities don't care if it burns down at night and takes half the business/slum district with it.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- Nevermark 4y agoI like this. It is tautological that every maximally automated step is still adjacent to a human. So not totally “dark”. Until no humans at all are needed.