Helping Computers Help Themselves

Jim Posner writes "The IT world's heavy hitters--IBM, Sun, Microsoft, and HP--want computers to solve their own problems.....If you're being chased by a big snarling dog, you don't have to worry about adjusting your heart rate or releasing a precise amount of adrenaline. Your body automatically does it all, thanks to the autonomic nervous system, the master-control for involuntary functions from breathing and blood flow to salivation and digestion." I'd just be happy with a few intelligent daemons to watch my back, like when a program runs amuck and fills up the process list.

Comments

Re:Scary fucking shit.

[laserjet]

I think IT type of jobs will just adapt. Instead of being the one watching the servers, you will train to become the one who sets up the server to watch themselves, etc.

It's really no different than the cotton gin automating cotton production: those workers that become obsoleted are retrained to enter the workforce with new skills. It is a continous cycle where those who are obsoleted learn new skills to get new jobs.

That's why our unemployment rate is usually fairly steady (between 3% and 8% almost always) - jobs are always being elimintated and jobs are always being created. In different sectors, maybe, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.