Re:Software engineering may no longer be a lifetime career
by bel8 on Tuesday May 12, 2026 @02:46AM
(#48105026)
I agree we do some marvelous things in sports but if we extrapolate from this table tennis robot, it's clear machines can/will do just as well there too:
Re:Software engineering may no longer be a lifetime career
by leptons on Tuesday May 12, 2026 @04:17AM
(#48105592)
That table tennis robot is not conscious. That table tennis robot does one thing well. A human is capable of far more. There is far more going on for a human playing table tennis than a robot. It doesn't matter if the table tennis robot plays table tennis better, it can't also play hocket, soccer, football, basketball, chess, polo, baseball, or many other things one human can do.
The human condition is nothing but a massive amount of calculations under the hood. You don't feel it, or understand it, but it's there. Everything in nature is math, every physical phenomena has a cause and effect rooted in mathematics, and it's no surprise that humans are great at subconsciously calculating myriad things on-the-fly, as life is happening around us.
Do you have any idea how many calculations it takes for a human to put a ball through a hoop while running across a court?
It could be millions or billions in a second. Manifesting consciousness, coordinating body movements, and everything else all at the same time takes calculations.
You may not be aware that your brain is doing multiplication, or any other kinds of math, constantly, but it is.