Welcome to episode 136 of the AI for Career Success podcast from Curt Robbins. This educational content is designed to give working professionals who leverage AI as a tool for efficiency and productivity a competitive edge.
In this episode, hosts Daphne and Fred unpack a December 7 article from AI guru Daniel Miessler entitled "Thoughts on Doctorow's 'Reverse Centaurs' AI Talk," with the subtitle "Another example of a great thinker sounding great while missing the point entirely."
This episode reviews the critical analysis by Daniel Miessler concerning a verbose December 5 essay on artificial intelligence (AI) by Cory Doctorow entitled "The Reverse Centaur’s Guide to Criticizing AI." Miessler argues that Doctorow's perspective is fundamentally misguided with respect to the nature and trajectory of AI technology.
Miessler contends that Doctorow incorrectly dismisses AI as mere "auto-complete" or a temporary "scam," thereby offering harmful advice to his followers by telling them not to prepare for its impact.
While Miessler praises Doctorow's "Reverse Centaur" analogy—which describes humans being controlled by machine systems for labor—he strongly disagrees with Doctorow's conclusion that the AI bubble will burst, reversing job displacement.
Instead, Miessler argues that jobs are disappearing permanently because corporations are inherently driven to minimize resources, making AI the ideal solution for efficiency. He concludes by urging thinkers like Doctorow to shift focus from fighting technological adoption to addressing profound societal questions about a post-labor, human-centric future.
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"It will not be AI that takes away the job of a technical writer, but rather another technical writer with deep AI skills," said Robbins.
I am currently taking on new clients. I enjoy helping companies with their documentation and communications strategy and implementation. Contact me to learn about my reasonable rates and fast turnaround. — Curt
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>> Read the original Miessler article: https://tinyurl.com/n6yhzf84
>> Read the original Doctorow article: https://tinyurl.com/bdfxxssk
>> Read the Robbins article "Understanding AI Hallucinations in Technical Writing": https://tinyurl.com/bdeyd64t
>> Read the Robbins article "Yale Study: Impact of AI on the Job Market": https://tinyurl.com/f3cuvvxn
>> Read the Robbins article "Why Large Language Models are Changing the World": https://tinyurl.com/bdfv63ca
>> Read the Robbins article "Understanding Anthropic: Rising Star in AI": https://tinyurl.com/46btw22z
>> Read the Robbins article "Comparing ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, & Grok": https://tinyurl.com/3zwttxhk
>> Read the Robbins article "AI Job Replacement Fears Are Good. Here's Why.": https://tinyurl.com/p5t27t7d
>> Join the LinkedIn group Technical Writing Success: https://tinyurl.com/mr28u7td
>> Subscribe to the Technical Writing Success podcast: https://tinyurl.com/uu9hpyzt