The Human versus the Automatic Navigator

Abstract

The title of this contribution is, in itself, misleading. All our navigation is planned and devised by human beings, whatever may be the degree of automaticity inherent in any particular system. The navigation of a space rocket is just as human as that of a Polynesian canoe, despite the absence of a working navigator going along ‘for the ride’. In considering the degree of automaticity desirable for a given navigational task we are really trying to decide how best to deploy the available human effort.