Summary: The Glass Cage

Words: 1471
Pages: 6

Trevor Monteforte
SOCIOL 3302 – T TH 3:55
April 4, 2018
The Glass Cage When I first saw the book and began reading it, I was immediately struck by the thought that this was going to be a dull book. Now, I must say that I agree with my past self. Many times throughout the reading of The Glass Cage I found my eyes glazing over and realizing that I had not comprehended a single word of the entire page I just read which required me to go back and reread. This made the reading take far longer than I would have preferred which made a sort of vicious cycle. The longer I read the book, the duller it became, the more I had to read. I believe that this feeling comes from how the book was written. At times, instead of feeling like I was reading a book
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This change is becoming commonplace in more than just aviation. I believe that the skills of what used to be highly technical fields are degrading to a dangerous point. Since workers no longer need to have the expertise required in their field, they can get by with less practice or understanding. Yet, I do not believe the removal of technology is the answer to this problem of role reversal. Automation has resulted in great advancements for humanity and should not be thrown away. I believe that a balance is required where the role of technology is no longer that of a servant or a master, but as a coworker. Something that can not only reduce the workload of a worker, but also push them to greater heights. This kind of combination is not easily produced, nor will it be easy to implement, but it creates a more stable platform to work from in the future. If this kind of balance can be found, it can not only reduce the fear of replacement by automation, but help reduce the negative effects from automation as …show more content…
Workers are lacking trust in their skills and use the machines as a crutch to stand upon. Where they were once masters at their craft, they have traded in their knowledge for complacency. Carr believes that these two factors led to our great reliance on technology and that they can lead to errors. It is with this that I whole-heartedly agree. Workers have gotten too used to the ease of work that automation brings. This kind of complacence is extremely dangerous. Eventually, a worker’s knowledge will be so poor that there will be no one left to understand what the machine is doing. This is more than just a degradation of skills, but instead a loss of overall knowledge. A loss of knowledge is a red flag that something has gone terribly wrong and must be amended. If automation is taking us to this point, then it is time to pause to halt its advance until we as a civilization figure out a way to avoid this