Is the Web Machine-Friendly?

People would like the web to be machine-friendly. What does that mean? Basically, people would like be able to teach the machines to go out on the web and do the legwork for them.

Now, machines are notoriously very brittle, and tend to easily break. You throw an unexpected piece of information at the machine, and it freaks out.

Humans are different. Humans can cope with irregularities. That's because we are blessed with common-sense.

Is the Web Broken?

We know for a fact that the web is not machine-friendly. But does that mean that it is broken? Some people tend to think yes, since the web cannot offer regular, uniform and predictable experience to the machines, it is broken.

Some other people, myself included, tend to think differently. I don't believe that the web should be made uniform, just so that the machines could traverse it without experiencing any hiccups.

So, in my view, the web is not broken. The web is just fine the way it is. It is the expectation that the web must be machine-friendly that is broken.

Smart Servant does not Imply Automation

Most people make a primordial mistake upon hearing about the Smart Servant and think that it means some really smart piece of automation. But that's very 19th century thinking. Today, in the 21st century, this is not what we're after anymore.

We're really after humanization of the technology. We want machines to learn to bend over backwards and kiss their own ass and serve our human needs. Nothing more.

And for that, we don't need massive automation. We don't need to turn the web into the wasteland of bland uniformity. Let the web be what it already is -- an enormous mass of messy, irregular, wacky and crazy stuff. That's life. That's what human beings thrive on.

We need to harness the technology that will help us participate and contribute to this mess. We don't need technology that will help us clean up and solve this mess. It is up to us, humans, to decide what's a problem and what isn't a problem.

Should the Web be Easy to Manipulate Programmatically?

My answer is: why? Who needs programmatic ways for accessing the content on the web? This is because I want to be in charge. I am the one who's in the driver's seat. Even when I hire a chauffeur to drive me, and am sitting in the back of the car, it is still me who is in the driver's seat.

Same is with the web. I am the consumer, the participator, the contributor on the web. I don't want machines to do that. I don't see any value or benefit in expecting the machines to do that.