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This is disparagingly referred to as momtech. Young silicon valley transplants try to replace the role of their parents with technology. They want to avoid cook
by ipnon 6y ago
This is disparagingly referred to as momtech. Young silicon valley transplants try to replace the role of their parents with technology. They want to avoid cooking and cleaning so they can code all the time. "If only a robot could do my dishes for me!"
It's the epitome of fitting a solution to a problem. Cooking and cleaning are simple tasks that any able bodied person can do themselves. There is no shortage of able bodied people in the world.
- tlb 6y agoA good rule of thumb when dismissing some new technology is to ask, "what previous technologies would I have dismissed for the same reasons?" And if those technologies became successful, try to learn from the mistake. In this case, clothes washing machines and vacuum cleaners seem to fit your thesis.
- function_seven 6y agoAnd the Roomba fits this rule of thumb again by replacing the vacuum cleaner (which replaced, what, taking rugs outside and beating them with sticks?) On a tangent: How was wall-to-wall carpeting cleaned before the invention of the Hoover? Did it just not exist before then? Or it just collected dirt until it was replaced?
- melling 6y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet_sweeper https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpet_sweeper
- function_seven 6y agoOof. We had one of these growing up, so I know about them. Just didn't remember it when I replied. Still useful for collecting crumbs around restaurant tables.
- bluGill 6y agoCarpet was for the rich. Normal people had much cheaper hardwood floors which were cleaned with a broom. The rich had servants, though I'm not sure what they did to clean (I think take it all outside)
- slfnflctd 6y agoIndeed. A guy named Hans Rosling did a Ted talk about 10 years ago arguing that the washing machine had one of the biggest impacts of any invention from the Industrial Revolution. It's worth looking up if you have 10 minutes to burn, he makes a good case.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoIt's a strong argument for a belief I currently have, in what I think is essentially "technological determinism". I sum it up like this: the shape of human societies are essentially determined by economic landscape (that, I would hope, is an obvious point). Scientific and technological progress is what reshapes the economic landscape. Therefore, culture is downstream from sci/tech. Washing machines freeing enormous amount of time for people (particularly mothers, who could use that time to e.g. read books to children or educate themselves) are one example. The other I like is the Reformation: why did Martin Luther succeed where previous attempts at reforming the Church have failed? Because the newly invented printing press allowed for the theses to spread across the Old World much faster than the Church could control it.
- xtian 6y agoThat's just historical materialism, FYI.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoLooking at Wikipedia, this, technological determinism and economical determinism are related concepts (with the same names appearing in articles about them). I'll need to look into getting my taxonomy straight, but my current view is mostly contained in the explanation I gave in the comment above: inventions shape the landscape of the economy, and ideas/culture are like water flowing in that landscape (and perhaps slowly eroding it).
- xtian 6y agoRight, historical materialism doesn't conflict with any of that, but it extends its analysis to the power structures that arise in society as a result of the material economic conditions.
- k__ 6y agoI think is is a very narrow view on the world. I'd gladly give up houshold chores if it was cheap and wouldn't require a person coming in my home.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoA peculiar way of looking at things. House chores and maintenance are two big things that are yet to be tackled by technology. They're quite literally life wasters - things you must do in order to get the things you want to do. Prime candidates for automating away, the opposite of "fitting a solution to a problem".
- blargmaster33 6y agoDishwashers and washing machines are the technical solution to two of the big time sinks in a household. Where I live everyone has a robotic robotic lawn mower.
- TeMPOraL 6y agoWhere I live almost nobody have a robotic lawn mower, though I've seen a few on a "smart home" trade show the other day. Dishwashers however are truly magic and the second best time saver after washing machines. But cutting out laundry, dishwashing and lawn mowing still leaves some time sinks. Like cooking, where machines currently solve the ingredient prep and the actual cooking parts, but do not help much with cleaning up the mess afterwards (beyond the baseline of using a dishwasher). Or dusting, laundry folding, general cleaning. These tasks I'd wish they could disappear. And then there's the general category of maintenance - most of the products around us require regular care. Which gets annoying rather quickly. The tech we have is cool, but there's so much more to be done! I'm hoping the future will eventually bring self-cleaning and self-repairing materials.
- marcosdumay 6y ago> It's the epitome of fitting a solution to a problem. Wait... Isn't fitting a solution to a problem exactly the right way to do things?