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Automation, Humans, Nature, and Development

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Human and Nature Minding Automation

Part of the book series: Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering ((ISCA,volume 41))

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Abstract

Automationsystems perform many operations and activities that can be monitored and controlled at several levels of abstraction. A modern automated system has to be able to adapt to fast internal and external changes. To this end, a variety of successful models, and control and supervision techniques have been developed during the last five decades, which are based on the principles of systems engineering, information technology, human factors engineering, and management science.[31, 158, 513] A central position in modern automation is kept by the human who performs several functions, either physical or mental or both. Thus, the attention of the automation systems scientists and engineers was soon turned towards the study of the physical, mental, and psychological features of the human at work. This has produced the field of human factors engineering, and has led to the so-called human-centered automation.[32, 523] After a brief discussion of “what is automation”, we give some historical landmarks of control and automation, and present in an elementary way the concept of feedback control. Next, we provide an outline of the role of humans in automation and a list of the effects that automation (and technology) has on nature (earth). On the basis of the above we then explain the title of the present book “human-and nature-minding automation”. Then, we present a number of important social issues of automation. Finally, we discuss the human development (HD) and modernization process, including the HD index and the HD report.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    According to F.W. Taylor’s Scientific Management: “the workman is told minutely just what he is to do and how he is to do it; and any improvement which he makes upon the orders given to him is fatal to success”.

  2. 2.

    From the Greek word \(\Sigma \upsilon \mu \beta \acute{\iota }\omega \sigma \eta \) (symbiosis, live together).319

  3. 3.

    From the combination of the Greek words ergon (\(\acute{\epsilon }\rho \gamma o\nu = \mathit{work}\)) and nomos (ν\acute{o}μoς = law).

  4. 4.

    Ecology comes from the Greek word “\(\mathrm{o}\iota \kappa \mathrm{o}\lambda \mathrm{o}\gamma \acute{\iota }\alpha \)” where “\(\mathrm{o}\acute{\iota }\kappa \mathrm{o}\varsigma \)” = house and “\(\lambda \acute{\mathrm{o}}\gamma \mathrm{o}\varsigma \)” = speech. Here, “\(\mathrm{o}\acute{\iota }\kappa \mathrm{o}\varsigma \)” is the nature and “\(\lambda \acute{\mathrm{o}}\gamma \mathrm{o}\varsigma \)” has the meaning of study. Actually, ecology is the study (science) of the interactions of living and nonliving entities in the nature.

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  1. School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National and Technical University of Athens, 15773, Athens, Greece

    Spyros G. Tzafestas

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Tzafestas, S.G. (2010). Automation, Humans, Nature, and Development. In: Human and Nature Minding Automation. Intelligent Systems, Control and Automation: Science and Engineering, vol 41. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3562-2_1

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