On Autopilot

Nowhere have the effects of computer automation been studied so deeply as in the field of aviation, where the consequences of even small errors can be dire. In today’s Sunday Rerun, drawn from my 2014 book on automation, The Glass Cage , I look at what’s been learned from the research. Inside today’s computerized cockpits we find important lessons about how automation shapes our jobs, talents, and lives — and a possible warning about AI.

Wiley Post and his plane Winnie Mae, circa 1933.

The lives of...