P3D A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste

[Bruce Springsteen <bsspringsteen@xxxxxxxxx>]

I see a slight convergence in the recent threads about mini-lab processing
vicissitudes and and compensation for autoexposre mis-reads of subjects
that aren't medium grey overall.

Early in the history of photography, the technical knowledge needed to
take and process pictures was daunting, and the number of people engaged
in it was limited to the intrepid, clever few.  Inexorably, the technology
evolved to accommodate mass participation, necessitating more and more
automation in all phases, camera, lab and all.  The only way to accomplish
this is to program or automate the processes until they are more or less
independent of human judgement - let the well-designed machine do the
thinking so the human behind the camera  or in the lab can be dumb.  But
the fantasy of the "smart machine" or "expert system" is just that. 
Standardizing and automating inevitably cheapen worthy activities of all
kinds, by restricting choice and judgement and learning in humans.  From
the point of view of an employer who sells such "time-saving services" to
the public, it also has the desired effect of allowing him to hire
low-cost ignorant interchangeable workers at his photo lab or burger joint
or gas station or bank or shoe store - or even replace them altogether
with self-service burgermats, photo-print machines, gas pumps, ATM's, and
all-sizes-fit-no-one shoes.  Eventually the public (most of it) doesn't
even know it's possible to do better, pay better wages for better goods,
and have a richer more competent society - leaving the few fuss pots on
maillists to rant about this lack of quality in the things they love, or
to pay a load of money for the real thing at professional labs.

Service economy indeed!

Bruce 



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