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Laundry. Just put your dirty clothes into a plastic bag and take them to dry cleaners. Pick up washed and ironed the next day. A huge time savings well worth th
by richardknop 9y ago
Laundry. Just put your dirty clothes into a plastic bag and take them to dry cleaners. Pick up washed and ironed the next day. A huge time savings well worth the cost of service. Also no need to own washing machine, dryer, ironing board etc.
EDIT: Now that I think about it, this was a bad example of automation. Please don’t downvote me!
- lazerpants 9y agoThis is the norm in NYC if you have a job and no washing machine. However, our wash and fold did screw up my clothes more often than I find acceptable.
- richardknop 9y agoFind a new wash. I also had this issue but then I switched to another one just around the corner and never had issue with them.
- lazerpants 9y agoI just moved to a place with laundry. I prefer it to sending it out actually, but anything is better than going to the laundromat.
- notfromhere 9y agothats outsourcing, not automating
- richardknop 9y agoWell to me it’s automated as I don’t have to do it manually. I see your point, it’s still done by a human but from my point of view it has been automated.
- malnourish 9y agoWell now you need to automate dropoff and pickup as well as payment.
- richardknop 9y agoUber wash & fold?
- Sohcahtoa82 9y agoI feel like you're dehumanizing the people actually doing the work for you.
- richardknop 9y agoThat was not my intention. Perhaps there is a language barrier as English is my second (or third) language. To automate something to me means getting the same result without me manually having to do it. Like hiring a professional to translate a document for me. I’d call that automation but I know now that’s incorrect.
- Sohcahtoa82 9y ago> Perhaps there is a language barrier as English is my second (or third) language. Ah, that's understandable then. As someone else said in another comment, passing the work off to another human is usually referred to as "outsourcing". Automation typically refers to passing the work off to a robot or computer.
- tarboreus 9y agoIn that case, I've also automated flying my own commercial airliner. I just pay someone $400 and I'm automatically flown anywhere in the continental US! Also, I automated bread baking. I just go to the supermarket and go to the bread aisle, and hey presto! Automatic bread.
- richardknop 9y agoI see your point. Now that I think about it laundry was a bad example of automation. But to me it feels like automation as I used to do it all myself manually. The amount of time I saved still surprises me. Especially ironing.
- torinmr 9y agoI empathize with that feeling! I recently "automated" washing dishes by upgrading to an apartment with a dishwasher, and it's an amazing quality of life improvement!
- richardknop 9y agoYou can take that one step further an order food every day. Or go eat out. Then you don’t need kitchen and dishes.
- tarboreus 9y agoWell, I agree that it's convenient. I do this for my work shirts and wash everything else because I'm cheap. But not automation, unless you consider Roman eunuchs to be automated child care.
- richardknop 9y agoTo be fair I’d imagine that bread making is quite automated these days. There’s a lot of machinery involved and much less people than few decades ago.
- tfolbrecht 9y agoIt IS a useful exercise to rope that in as automation. Just because a human is playing the part of the levers and pullies or some black box doesn't mean the underlying control system isn't interesting or worth examining in the context of automation.
- tarboreus 9y agoThe word "automatic" literally means without human intervention. It's antonym is "manual," which literally refers to hands. Yes, your subjective experience of having a servant or whatever is similar to the subjective experience you have with automation. But that's pretty close to magical thinking. Outsourced and automated just aren't the same thing. Especially if you're the human stuck making the widget.