Yet false economies, like this one, are often a prelude to a major, if not catastrophic loss. Nor is it wise to expect too many efficiencies from humans. We are designed to be more effective than efficient. We need to be engaged, amused and even distracted from time to time. Most of us find satisfaction only when the job is done right, not just quickly or inexpensively.
Machines willingly submit to greater efficiency without boredom, frustration or complaint.
Hardly - but there is a limit, beyond which risk increases sharply. Drudgery is for machines, not people. When obsession with efficiency cuts into effectiveness, it can end up in the media, in the courts or in a smoking hole. Such debacles are usually foreseeable and preventable. Along with the quest for efficiency, rational choice theory has been a mainstay of our economic philosophy for decades.