Difference between revisions of "Advanced automation/Increasing capacity automatically as required"
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A major advantage of having processes almost completely automated is that the capacity can easily be scaled up. Just as the machines can be repaired autonomously, more of the same can be manufactured and assembled, also by machine. The work-force can almost be conjured up from material in the ground as needed. | A major advantage of having processes almost completely automated is that the capacity can easily be scaled up. Just as the machines can be repaired autonomously, more of the same can be manufactured and assembled, also by machine. The work-force can almost be conjured up from material in the ground as needed. | ||
| − | This capability means we will be able to do things that are simply not possible at the moment. Mega-scale engineering projects become easy. If a task is complicated, tedious and a great effort we only need to design the system for the job and let it get on with it. Easier said than done of course. But as these systems become more sophisticated the design teams will only need to interface with | + | This capability means we will be able to do things that are simply not possible at the moment. Mega-scale engineering projects become easy. If a task is complicated, tedious and a great effort we only need to design the system for the job and let it get on with it. Easier said than done of course. But as these systems become more sophisticated, so will the design tools. The engineering teams will only need to interface with these complex systems at ever higher levels of abstraction. It will be similar to high-level programming languages hiding the lower levels of code - the individual nuts and bolts will be like the naughts and ones of machine code. |
Obviously this expansion needs to be carefully controlled by people. We will always need to understand how these systems work and they will need to be monitored. Some people wonder whether we will get to a stage where the machines are so sophisticated and we have relied on them for so long that no humans will actually know how they work, and therefore not be in full control of them. The reality is there will always be people interested in this sort of thing - engineers, scientists and geeks. They want to know how to make things and understand how they work. We have always been like this, and always will be. | Obviously this expansion needs to be carefully controlled by people. We will always need to understand how these systems work and they will need to be monitored. Some people wonder whether we will get to a stage where the machines are so sophisticated and we have relied on them for so long that no humans will actually know how they work, and therefore not be in full control of them. The reality is there will always be people interested in this sort of thing - engineers, scientists and geeks. They want to know how to make things and understand how they work. We have always been like this, and always will be. | ||
Revision as of 23:44, 9 October 2006
A major advantage of having processes almost completely automated is that the capacity can easily be scaled up. Just as the machines can be repaired autonomously, more of the same can be manufactured and assembled, also by machine. The work-force can almost be conjured up from material in the ground as needed.
This capability means we will be able to do things that are simply not possible at the moment. Mega-scale engineering projects become easy. If a task is complicated, tedious and a great effort we only need to design the system for the job and let it get on with it. Easier said than done of course. But as these systems become more sophisticated, so will the design tools. The engineering teams will only need to interface with these complex systems at ever higher levels of abstraction. It will be similar to high-level programming languages hiding the lower levels of code - the individual nuts and bolts will be like the naughts and ones of machine code.
Obviously this expansion needs to be carefully controlled by people. We will always need to understand how these systems work and they will need to be monitored. Some people wonder whether we will get to a stage where the machines are so sophisticated and we have relied on them for so long that no humans will actually know how they work, and therefore not be in full control of them. The reality is there will always be people interested in this sort of thing - engineers, scientists and geeks. They want to know how to make things and understand how they work. We have always been like this, and always will be.
People will need to improve the designs and make sure they are safe and efficient. We will always be, or rather make sure that we will always be, part of the loop.
It is highly likely that we will develop computer-controlled systems more capable at certain tasks than we are, of course we already have already, but this trend will inevitable continue until there is very little that can't be done better by a machine system. However they will still ultimately be tools for people to work with.
