Pixar, Humans, and Software

Human potential continues to increase over the years through technology. Software, computers, and robots have pushed our abilities sky high in recent history. Some people want to stunt this growth because they are worried they are being replaced. Take construction for example, as robots that build and inspect and software that manages come about, people fear their jobs are at risk.

At the point where 3D animation was just becoming possible so many animators, even at Disney, feared computers. They saw them as threats to their job functions - praying computers would never be able to draw and animate like they did. It is silly to think about because looking forward just a handful of years, computers AND humans together could create masterpieces like Toy Story, Monsters Inc, etc. These were films that were pushing the boundaries of human potential at the time, all because of computers. The best part? Pixar only expanded!

In fact, the only layoffs were from Disney’s 2D department because they misread the market thinking that 2D was a thing of the past. In reality, they just made a bad series of movies that happened to be 2D.

When computers are taught how to do the mundane or difficult parts of a human’s job, it frees up the human to tackle more interesting, challenging, or creative work.

Consider the construction industry hundreds of years ago. The average house was likely a log cabin. Since then, the standard for a house has risen because our abilities have too. Even today as technology increases, construction projects are increasingly complex.

My overall point is increased technological ability allows us to pursue incredible projects that were before too difficult, and the human capital largely remains in use. It is simply repurposed to a more exciting job.