Couldn't agree more. Self-driving cars are exciting to report on, so get all the attention, but I'm absolutely convinced that general day-to-day automation of a

Couldn't agree more. Self-driving cars are exciting to report on, so get all the attention, but I'm absolutely convinced that general day-to-day automation of award-wage jobs will be the sneaky left hander that shakes society up. When they get supermarket self-checkouts to be as foolproof as staffed checkouts (eg some kind of NFC/RFID based walk-through scanning, and not this current "customer does the work" one that still needs constant assistance and staffing), you're already putting a HUGE number of people out of work. McDonalds has been pushing their automated systems HARD here in Australia, with all kinds of perks if you use their app or in-store touchscreens to order and pay. Our local one in the last couple years alone went from 4-5 staff on front, to 1, maybe 2 in peak. Online grocery shopping is so common here now that I don't know many people who actually go to the shops for their big weekly shop, just to grab a few items for cravings and bits and pieces on the way home from work. Of my 5 closest local friends, 4 do their primary weekly groceries online, whereas a couple years ago it was 1. Ikea does self-checkout now, and sometimes has no staffed checkouts open here, unless you have special needs then they'll open one for you (we're usually dragging kids and prams so they'll open one for us). I now renew my car rego, insurance, license, etc online. Just a few years ago that HAD to be done in person, at the dreaded roads authority. I haven't been in there for a couple years now, and it used to be 2-3 times a year for various things. The robots aren't coming, they're already here.