The shrinking never-list

People used to say a computer would never read handwriting, never beat a chess champion, never write a letter that sounds official. Those lines keep moving. In 1997 a machine beat Garry Kasparov at chess. Later, machines played Go at a level that stunned champions. Writing a clean denial is on that same moving list.

The useful sentence is not “never say never.” It is: falling off the never-list is not the same as sitting in Yara’s chair. A game has a score. A housing no costs a home.

Harborline already has the writing. The never-list does not tell the junior clerk whether they still need to look.

The tempting mistake is to wait for a more famous victory before inventing a process. The desk already pastes.

That is what lets you rank how people and machines work together.