Comment by gopher_space
1 day ago
The point of the fallacy is that you don't know what value they bring or when they bring it.
Real estate agents are a good example. They might be the only people involved aware of the processes everyone's engaged in and moving things forward. Having helped build tools for a local shop I can tell you that their checklists and flowcharts can't and won't be built with AI because hoarding and sharing information has always been part of their competitive advantage.
A corollary might be that the value of human involvement is unknowable because human beings aren't rational. The Doorman is a buffer against chaos.
The total failure of PurpleBricks attempt to disrupt estate agents in the UK is a good example of this. Turns out people had no idea of the shit-shovelling, chivvying and smoothing-over agents do to help sales actually close.
Were those the guys trying to remove roadblocks set up specifically for people who’d like to encourage sprawl?