De-Skilling

Podcast: Hotel Bar Sessions · Leigh M. Johnson, Jennifer Kling, Bob Vallier

Opublikowano: 2026-05-01

What happens to a skill when you stop needing it? In this episode, we're talking about the quiet, subtle erosion that happens when technology simply takes over a task and the human capacity for it begins, almost imperceptibly, to fade. This is de-skilling: a phenomenon with deep roots in the history of labor and capitalism, newly urgent in an age of GPS, generative AI, and algorithmic everything. The questions de-skilling raises run deeper than nostalgia for shop class or handwriting. What exactly is a skill — and is there a meaningful difference between a skill and an ability? Wh...