Armageddon’s Plothole
1998's movie "Armageddon" has your typical disaster movie plot:
After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas will impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep-core drillers to save the planet. (Source: IMDB)
Nitpickers were quick to point out a flaw in that plan. Wouldn't it make more sense to teach astronauts to drill than to teach drillers to be astronauts?
Turns out it wouldn't. Deep-core drilling is a highly specialized skill that takes decades to master. The "astronaut" duties in the movie were fairly limited — survive the g-forces, walk around in a space suit. No orbital calculations or space walks required.
The point isn't about the movie. It's about how easy it is to be dismissive of skills you don't have: "How hard can drilling a miles-deep hole be? Point the drill down and push the button..."
We see AI enabling exactly this hubris in both directions:
Business → Engineering: "Now that I can vibe code anything I want, I don't even need those engineers. How hard can it be?"
Engineering → Business: "Now that AI can do outreach, sales, and marketing for me, I don't even need business folks. How hard can it be?"
NASA would've sent both, and so should you. AI makes each side more powerful, not more replaceable.
