I do think the main point of the article, that automations designed to cut corners and save costs erode our social bonds and the fabric of our society is a poig

I do think the main point of the article, that automations designed to cut corners and save costs erode our social bonds and the fabric of our society is a poignant one. A lot of times, especially here on HN, we only accept things that can be backed up by facts or stats or a study of some kind, but we don't have (and cannot automate) such things for every possible hypothesis. This seems like one of those things. Cost cutting by individual companies in this way hurts society as a whole. Maybe on paper those savings are returned to shareholders and maybe that leads to greater GDP per capita, etc. But the social bonds that fray when human interaction is deemed to precious or too expensive to waste on the average joe is real. Don't really know just yet how to fix it. I too worry that this amazing technology (like many before it) will be abused by upper middle managers in the worst possible ways to make our societies worse...