Just realized I've been too hard on the old rope-grip guys after a talk with a retired mechanic in Cincinnati

He said 'You kids with your solid-state drives forget that a good hand can feel a sheave groove worn to a 32nd before any sensor picks it up.' Has anyone else had a veteran change their mind about a 'dated' skill?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan.logan22d ago

Man, that's so true. I read an article about old school machinists who could judge metal temperature just by the color in dim light. Makes you realize how much feel and instinct gets lost when we only trust the readouts.

lewis.troy22d ago

But those readouts save a lot of ruined parts, @morgan.logan. Feel is great until it's wrong.

graceblack16d ago

Yeah, it's a real tough balance. I get what @lewis.troy is saying about saving parts, the numbers don't lie. But morgan's point hits hard too, that deep knowledge from years of just doing the work is a different kind of smart. Feels like we're trading one skill for another, and maybe losing something we can't really get back. Hard to say if that's just progress or not.