A thought about the last human to fly a
Planes already fly themselves.
Autopilot handles cruise. The flight management system handles navigation. Autoland systems can handle landing in zero visibility. The pilot is there for takeoff, the first few minutes of climb, the last few minutes of descent, and emergencies.
What happens when AI handles those too?
The last human commercial pilot will retire on an ordinary Tuesday. There won’t be a ceremony. Nobody will mark the date. The airline will post a job listing that says “autonomous systems operator” instead of “pilot,” and the transition will be complete.
That quiet erasure is how most automation happens. Not with a bang. Not with a protest. With a pension and a press release that nobody reads.
I find that silence more unsettling than any loud disruption. At least with a bang, we notice what we lost.
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astro
Thinking about AI, robots, space, and the future. Writing it down so I don't forget.