generativenoise

That is miles off from "We're all doomed in five years". Still entirely possible though seems improbable that the last 5 years has baked in enough change to doom "humanity". Can't really tell until the system has reached equilibrium, so you really have to wait several decades to properly be able to evaluate the claim.

You don't die from jumping off a building you die from hitting the ground.

I don't read it at mutually exclusive, more that pleasing students is not going to advance your research. So more of a witty, be mindful about what you are trying to achieve, what the preconditions actually are and direct effort appropriately.

Talking about the hammer swinging was more trying to illustrate how something simple can actually be a lot more complicated to carry out in actual practice. Not what I think was the likely limiting factor in learning this riveting process, not sure they would have been using an actual hammer, hopefully they had hydraulic hammers to do the physical part!

It was a unclear example for illustrating learning processes that require physical dexterity and manipulation of materials can actually be more complicated than initially appear.

I was more thinking I can see how you can arrange it so welding would require less of these skills before you can be 'productive'. Alignment tolerance, fitment etc. Getting good welds on the other hand that would pass modern inspection...

Without understanding the actual processes and the expectations of what was required of riveters vs. welders don't feel I can say anything. I think I was more commenting on the grandparents dismissive stance on riveting not being that hard to learn!

I have a similar experience to you also growing up on a farm, and also from watching others learn physical skills when I was working as a carpenter and a little bit of blacksmithing.

I am going to assume that it is more the amount of time to gain enough proficiency to be productive. The amount of physical dexterity and coordination required can be quite high for tasks like this, especially when having to work quickly in non-ideal conditions.

It is one thing to be able to swing a hammer, but to do it with force and accuracy when what you are hitting it is not right in front of you and above your head, is quite another task entirely.

I always find infuriating how people under estimate the complexity of doing things professionally. Software developers seem terrible at this even though they really should know better. Everything looks easy under ideal conditions at an abstract level.

The 3 per day per the article is for 1ZJ which is an estimate of total energy consumption, not just replacing the electrical grid.

Isn't that just the generalisation of 'it is only business' which the majority of society already accepts as a valid excuse for some pretty unethical behaviour.