On autopilot: the dangers of overautomation

Matthew Ebbatson, a human factors researcher at Cranfield University, showed through empirical experiments that pilots' manual flying skill measurably declines with how much manual flying they've actually done — the link is strongest to the preceding two months. Nicholas Carr summarizes the research in the essay "On autopilot: the dangers of overautomation," which has become one of the most-cited texts on what's called the "automation paradox": the better a system gets, the less often the human ability it's meant to back up gets used, and the more it risks eroding exactly when it's needed most.