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Show HN: Human Lambdas – Create Human in the Loop queues and outsource them

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Re: Show HN: Human Lambdas – Create Human in the Loop queues and outsource them

#61

Post by the_local_host »

jdub wrote: post #4

"Human Lambdas"… "Mechanical Turk"… you're fully aware these are horrible names for horrible ideas, right?

Applying "human" as an adjective to something else seems almost guaranteed to sound unkind to humans.

No one wants to be a "human [something_not_human]".

Re: Show HN: Human Lambdas – Create Human in the Loop queues and outsource them

#62

Post by pessimizer »

bckr wrote: post #60
fny wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can call people "sanitation engineers", "sandwich artists", or whatever (these are real titles by the way) and for as long as you treat them as replaceable, interchangeable, and cheap, they will be cogs. Also are "production worker", "factory worker", "shipping clerk", or "driver" any better or worse than "human lambda"?

I was a "Dish Machine Operator" for a few months, and it actually did make me feel cooler than being a "Dishwasher". "Human Lambda" being the name of the company, perhaps the workers are "Lambda Operators".

Horses for courses; my favorite job title ever was as a "3602 Clerk." Such an anonymous title for such a crazy job.

Re: Show HN: Human Lambdas – Create Human in the Loop queues and outsource them

#64

Post by wildermuthn »

A quick look over their docs, and I think this is a terrific product that needs a better landing page. They make it easy to build a custom task with a UI builder, and more importantly, they also automatically exposes programmatic means of adding tasks and receiving task completion data. This makes “do things that don’t scale” somewhat more scalable. Looking forward to trying it out!

Re: Show HN: Human Lambdas – Create Human in the Loop queues and outsource them

#66

Post by text70 »

skinnymuch wrote: post #51
prepend wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My office took the DISC [0] personality profile and it revealed that there are some people who love compliments, just love them. Even if they aren’t genuine, they like hearing “You’re a rock star, I’m so grateful you’re here today” even if the person is completely unable to evaluate rockstar vs. non-rockstar. Even if they say it every day to everyone. And there are people who hate compliments. So it’s funny how withi…

Haha this is a point I didn’t bring up but loosely in my opinion lends credence to why obfuscating cogs as cogs is morally wrong. The opposing view on here appears to be if you can compliment the cogs who enjoy that and keep them happy that way, things are better. This view is self serving and for the benefit of the higher ups. Not the cog. Thanks for this though. Interesting to think about. I’ve added your comment a…

At that level, abstract logic becomes more important. Is it better to think of a flower in a field as part of a larger ecosystem, or characterize your company as a machine composed of cogs?

Re: Show HN: Human Lambdas – Create Human in the Loop queues and outsource them

#67

Post by prepend »

skinnymuch wrote: post #51
prepend wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My office took the DISC [0] personality profile and it revealed that there are some people who love compliments, just love them. Even if they aren’t genuine, they like hearing “You’re a rock star, I’m so grateful you’re here today” even if the person is completely unable to evaluate rockstar vs. non-rockstar. Even if they say it every day to everyone. And there are people who hate compliments. So it’s funny how withi…

Haha this is a point I didn’t bring up but loosely in my opinion lends credence to why obfuscating cogs as cogs is morally wrong. The opposing view on here appears to be if you can compliment the cogs who enjoy that and keep them happy that way, things are better. This view is self serving and for the benefit of the higher ups. Not the cog. Thanks for this though. Interesting to think about. I’ve added your comment a…

I’ve been a cog before and had hippie managers and asshole managers. Honestly, I prefer the occasional whip from the asshole than the constant stream of bullshit from hippies trying to tell me every day how my data entry was “awesome.” The weird thing is sometimes I think they convinced themself that our cog work was awesome.

If I’m a commodity, I’d rather be straight about it and have a shared reality since businesses will actually treat me like a commodity when it’s important.

Re: Show HN: Human Lambdas – Create Human in the Loop queues and outsource them

#68

Post by brobdingnagians »

skinnymuch wrote: post #53
brobdingnagians wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the name is clever and a bit cute, though perhaps easy to misinterpret. But on point of principle: No matter what someone is paid (or whether they are paid at all), they are a person, with hopes, dreams, feelings, and dignity. I know you probably already believe that, but it's worth stating anyway. Our society does tend to treat people like cogs, but that is a problem with our society. Words influence how we…

I don’t want “respect” or whatever other ways things are being framed if I’m being paid a low wage. I always found it insulting when done. When I was treated more like a cog in line with my pay, I don’t remember having any specific consistent resentment or annoyance. This is my own personal life anecdote. — It also isn’t just pay. Being all cute and “nice” and “respectful” but on top of low pay, not being flexible wi…

True I agree with that. It can feel like a cynical slap if they cover up your low status and try to make you feel good about it. I try to coach and mentor my employees and see what they value. I totally recognize that isn't common in management.
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