[hyperpape]

How seriously do you mean the analogy?

I think forklifts probably carry more weight over longer distances than people do (though I could be wrong, 8 billion humans carrying small weights might add up).

Certainly forklifts have more weight * distance when you restrict to objects that are over 100 pounds, and that seems like a good decision.

[burkaman]

I think it's a good analogy. A forklift is a useful tool and objectively better than humans for some tasks, but if you've never developed your muscles because you use the forklift every time you go to the gym, then when you need to carry a couch up the stairs you'll find that you can't do it and the forklift can't either.

So the idea is that you should learn to do things by hand first, and then use the powerful tools once you're knowledgeable enough to know when they make sense. If you start out with the powerful tools, then you'll never learn enough to take over when they fail.

[bluGill]

A forklift can do things no human can. I've used a forklift for things that no group of humans could - you can't physically get enough humans around that size object to lift it. (of course levers would change this)

[AlexandrB]

Yeah, it's a great analogy. Pushing it even further: a forklift is superhuman, but only in specific environments that are designed for it. As soon as you're off of pavement a forklift can't do much. As soon as an object doesn't have somewhere to stick the forks you need to get a bunch of other equipment to get the forklift to lift it.

[_flux]

You're making the analogy work: because the point of weightlifting as a sport or exercise is to not to actually move the weights, but condition your body such that it can move the weights.

Indeed, usually after doing weightlifting, you return the weights to the place where you originally took them from, so I suppose that means you did no work at in the first place..

[TeMPOraL]

That's true of exercise in general. It's bullshit make-work we do to stay fit, because we've decoupled individual survival from hard physical labor, so it doesn't happen "by itself" anymore. A blessing and a curse.

[antod]

I feel we are on the cusp of a new era... Civil Engineering bridge analogies about to be replaced by forklift analogies.