LAUSR

Abstract Events that can be characterized as hours of boredom which rapidly change into moments of terror, are now evolving into mere milliseconds of mayhem interjected into perhaps even months of monotony. This organisation of human supervisory work, while perhaps one inevitable consequence of the present evolutionary line of automation and autonomy’s proliferation, may profoundly disserve the human operators involved. These latter individuals readily become ever-more remote from the inner loops of control. Such distancing is characterised by a progressively diminishing necessity for the operator to interface, interfere, interrupt, or even interpret on-going operations. This emerging and increasing profile of task demand threatens to make human workers inefficient, ineffective, or perhaps altogether redundant even during such off-nominal and/or emergency events. In framing this general argument, a specific analysis is provided here of such transition events as a foundation from which to suggest remediating strategies that may, at least temporarily, address such a profoundly inhuman work profile. Other avenues to help redress and even dissolve this growing discord and dissonance are identified and advocated. The question as to the degree to whether such strategic HF/E exhortations swim against an inexorable tide of technological development is also considered.