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ForceBru 2 days ago

"Human problems can't be solved with technology" is just wrong, unless you have narrower definitions of a "human problem" or "technology".

For instance, transportation is a "human problem". It's being successfully solved with such technologies as cars, trains, planes, etc. Growing food at scale is a "human problem" that's being successfully solved by automation. Computing... stuff could be a "human problem" too. It's being successfully solved by computers. If "human problems" are more psychological, then again, you can use the Internet to keep in touch with people, so again technology trying to solve a human problem.

Eisenstein 2 days ago | parent [-]

I think you may be misunderstanding the concept of 'human problem'. A human problem is caused by humans, it isn't something like transportation. That is a physics problem. An example of a human problem is cheating; you can't solve cheating with technology. Just add [incentive] after human and it should make more sense.

ForceBru 20 hours ago | parent [-]

IMO "human problem" isn't a well-defined concept, so it's not really possible to misunderstand it. I think a "human problem" is a problem that _humans have_: how to move around? (transportation) what to eat? (agriculture, etc) how to prevent cheating? (some kind of surveillance) how to communicate over long distances? (radio, the internet, etc)

Sure, some kinds of such "human problems" can be reduced to physics and technology, that's the point. This also doesn't necessarily mean that solutions produced by such reductions are effective: is surveillance good at preventing cheating during exams? Kind of. Does it often fail to catch cheating students? Absolutely.

However, indeed, there can be many different (perhaps equally correct) definitions of what a "human problem" is.