Why Machines are Better Than Humans at Work

Why machines are better than humans at work is a sensitive but crucial topic since, year after year, more machines are replacing human jobs.

Keep in mind, I’m only talking about work productivity here.

From this perspective, it’s obvious why you’d choose machines over humans. In fact, it would be unwise not to choose machines when given the choice.

To demonstrate the changing times, look at the McKinsey report below, which highlights the automation potential of various industries.

Type of work	Yearly labor productivity growth (2000 to 2016)	Automation potential
Hospitality & food services	-0.8%	73%
Manufacturing	2.9%	59%
Transportation & warehousing	0.2%	58%
Mining, and oil & gas extraction	3.2%	51%
Construction	-1%	47%
Real estate	2.1%	40%
Finance & insurance	1.1%	42%
Management	0.1%	34%

In this discussion, I’ll cover 8 reasons why machines outperform humans at work and what we can learn from them to boost our own productivity.

#1 Machines aren’t fazed by aggression

You can yell at a machine, telling it to “fuck off” as you kick it, and it won’t care. It’ll still do what it’s programmed to do without missing a beat. Machines can take any abuse, while humans tend to react differently.

A single nasty email or a negative comment on social media can ruin our mood and plummet our productivity. Of course, I’m generalizing, but most people struggle to channel negativity into productivity.

#2 Machines are always on time

You don’t need to worry about a machine being late to work because of a hangover, family issues, or appointments. Humans aren’t always reliable, but machines are dependable – just like your smartphone.

Imagine if your phone only worked 50% or even 95% of the time. You’d be furious! We expect our devices to function perfectly all the time, but as humans, we’re not always so reliable.

Moreover, robots don’t need vacations or weekends. Check out the table below from Statista, showing paid time off for people in different countries.

Country	Annual paid time off
United Kingdom	37
France	36
Spain	36
Germany	33
South Korea	30
Japan	25
Canada	19
United States	10

#3 Machine deliver consistent work

Regardless of the circumstances, a machine will do what it’s programmed to do, as long as its hardware and software are intact. The work produced is always consistent.

A machine making apple pies will create perfect pies from 5 AM to 6 PM, with the crust impeccably designed and the taste consistently mouthwatering.

Human productivity, on the other hand, tends to decline over the course of a day. That’s why we’re surrounded by sugary, caffeinated drinks marketed to give us a midday energy boost. Otherwise, our work output could be all over the place – like baking 100 different-looking apple pies by the end of the day, with half of them missing apples!

Machines don’t need midday energy boosts.

#4 Machines don’t need external motivation

Machines don’t require Tony Robbins or motivational YouTube videos to start their day. Once you turn on a machine, it’s “go time.”

Furthermore, you don’t need extensive management with machines. Think of managers who constantly need to motivate their employees, giving pep talks on quarterly goals and using fear and pride to inspire.

Forget all that. Machines will do what they’re programmed to do from day one. They don’t need an ounce of extra motivation and will work whether they’re in sunny Santa Barbara or in the midst of a Siberian nuclear war.

#5 Age is just a number when it comes to machines

This saying truly applies to machines. A brand-new machine and a 20-year-old one will have the same productivity if they share the same specs.

From the start, we program machines to do what they need to do, so there’s no learning curve. Unlike humans, who need years of experience to become skilled at certain tasks.

The beauty is that once a machine is perfectly tweaked, you’ll have a golden goose:

• Hardware expertly designed for a specific task
• Coded software to execute that task efficiently

You can then replicate the machine—make 100,000 copies, and each will be as incredible as the next.

Now, imagine a company finds and trains a superstar employee and wants to hire more like them. To make this happen, the company needs to:

• Find employees with identical personalities, lifestyles, and education
• Train the employees for 5+ years
• Keep the employees happy, ensuring they don’t jump ship to another company
• Hope the employees won’t face any life surprises that derail their employment journey

Then, finally, pray one of the employees becomes a superstar.

In short, it’s challenging to reproduce superstar employees. That’s why most companies have only a few superstar employees among thousands.

#6 Machines are neutral in every way possible

In today’s world, your beliefs can cause problems in the workplace. But machines don’t hold any beliefs.

Employees can sue their employers, sometimes for silly reasons just to make a quick buck. However, with machines, it’s a different story. Even when the employer is at fault, machines stay silent because they can’t get hurt. Burn a machine? No big deal! But if a human gets burned, it’s a lawsuit—and often justifiably so.

By default, this makes employees a liability, as accidents happen. It’s just the reality of the workplace these days. A machine can never sue you, and it doesn’t need you to pay for its health and retirement plans, which have become increasingly expensive for employers.

#7 No limits on hardware

Our human senses—touch, sight, taste, smell, and hearing—set limits on what we can do. We can’t work as precisely as a machine and fatigue quickly.

For instance, consider the visible light spectrum. Human eyes can only detect wavelengths from 400 to 700 nanometers. We’re blind to a whole other world that exists beyond this range, so we can’t inspect certain things precisely due to our biological limitations.

Machines, on the other hand, can have their senses amplified to superhero levels, making them vastly superior to humans.

#8 Limitless memory

Compared to humans, machines have virtually limitless memory, allowing them to store and retrieve enormous amounts of data effortlessly.

This level of data storage is crucial in engineering, as the more data you collect, the better you can innovate and learn from failures.

Moreover, we can program machines with countless algorithms, enabling them to perform any work application precisely, regardless of the number of steps or complexity involved.

This memory advantage is a significant reason for the advancements made in tech today.

People who disagree about machines being better than humans

Sure, there are folks who’d disagree with me, and that’s totally fine.

Ironically, many of these same people have smartphones glued to their hands, drive their favorite 2-ton vehicles, and buy perfectly packaged food from local stores. You catch my drift.

Each of these products and industries once employed countless people, but machines eventually took over.

I don’t know anyone who’d willingly give up their phone, car, or grocery store access. Libraries are slowly fading, and horses and carriages are relics of the past.

We rely on machines because they perform certain tasks better and more reliably than humans.

How to learn from machines to boost your productivity

In fields where machines dominate, they’re vastly superior to humans. The gap between machines and humans will only grow as machines get smarter and more advanced.

But don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom.

Review the points I’ve discussed in this article that make machines superior and see how you can work more like a machine. Remember, if you’re in a creative field, you’ve got an advantage over machines, at least for now.

By working more like a machine and combining that with your creativity, you’ll level up your productivity and performance.

Also, check out my article on how you can work more like a machine.

Conclusion

Machines are quickly replacing humans, and it’s not a question of if they’ll take over more jobs, but when.

As artificial intelligence advances, machines will keep outpacing humans in the workplace year after year. So don’t underestimate machines in the job market. I believe they’ll soon be our biggest competition, not our fellow humans. That’s why it’s essential to grasp their strengths.

Think of it like this: LeBron James compares himself to Michael Jordan, not some local YMCA player. Why? Because Jordan embodies the pinnacle of basketball greatness.

In the same way, pinpoint your weaknesses in comparison to machines in your work, and apply what you learn to both your professional and personal life. I’ve found that the more you work like a machine, the more time you’ll have to be human.

Do you think machines are better than humans at work? What future challenges do you foresee for humans against machines in the workplace?