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For our first blog post, I’d like to share a short film I watched as a young child that spawned a lifelong obsession with finding ways to augment my personal effort.

Machines and tools have long allowed humanity to optimize their work and extend our capability. Arguably the most powerful modern tool is computing. With programming, one can multiply their mental effort, letting them mould and transform huge amounts of data to their will. Robotics is similar for physical effort, combining traditional tools with automatic procedure. This film shows the real power of economies of scale optimizing an ever more industries workplace. With the digital world moving towards API’s and AI’s, it’s interesting to draw parallels in this modern age.

“A computer is like a violin. You can imagine a novice trying first a phonograph and then a violin. The latter, he says, sounds terrible. That is the argument we have heard from our humanists and most of our computer scientists. Computer programs are good, they say, for particular purposes, but they aren’t flexible. Neither is a violin, or a typewriter, until you learn how to use it.” ― Marvin Minsky