Of Capability

Against the Second Danger: the Hollowing.

1. We will keep practicing what makes us capable (judgment, craft and reasoning), even when a machine could do it for us.
2. Machines may teach wherever they serve the learner well, with people to guide them. What only people can teach, people must. No learner shall be denied a human teacher because a machine is cheaper.
3. Every child shall learn to think, to make and to judge for themselves, and to use the machines without being used by them.
4. Tools shall be built to make people more capable, not dependent against their will. A tool that quietly takes away a person’s judgment has failed, however convenient it is. Help that is chosen is not weakness.
5. Those who run the systems that keep people alive and free shall plan for their failure: backups tested, help within reach, recovery swift. Each of us prepares as we are able.

By these signs it is kept

• People can still understand and check the things that matter most to them.
• Schools teach judgment, not only answers.
• When the systems go down, essential services go on and help can be reached.