5 ms·

This is such a strange take. We’re literally on the cusp of living in a Jetson’s style future where robots deliver stuff to our doors and that’s upsetting? To m

by wincy 2y ago

This is such a strange take. We’re literally on the cusp of living in a Jetson’s style future where robots deliver stuff to our doors and that’s upsetting? To me this is literally the coolest thing ever. I’d much rather this than some delivery driver peeing in a Gatorade bottle to meet quotas. Automation drives prices down and makes all of our lives better.

nemomarx 2y ago
Maybe try and get the noise level down to ambient traffic first, then?
noja 2y ago
I don’t recall this “Jetson’s style future” being not able to open the window because it sounds like chainsaws outside.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- jkestner 2y ago
  Maybe it’s more of a Futurama-style future.
  - gs17 2y ago
    Futurama delivery drones seem to be pretty quiet, at least. Even in the recent episode mocking Amazon. I guess we need to invent whatever gently humming propulsion hovering sci-fi stuff uses.
mschuster91 2y ago
> Automation drives prices down and makes all of our lives better. The problem is, automation drives prices down so hard that Amazon and maaaaaybe one other large player will be the only game left in town. We'll end up being back in the era of corporate towns that were abolished barely a century ago.
- aaronbaugher 2y ago
  The book Hired by James Bloodworth, a British journalist, describes what happens to a town when Amazon graces it with a warehouse. Sadly, some communities are already there.
guitarlimeo 2y ago
Yeah well I don't agree that everything needs to be available to be delivered instantly. As much as it's useful, I don't like the "traditional" delivery driver industry either, just feels like going in the wrong direction to get more hours into your day doing something "productive". > Automation drives prices down and makes all of our lives better. As I said in other comment, this increases traffic (especially airtraffic which goes from 0 to non-zero) and it doesn't make my life better that my neighbors can order toothpaste via a drone, causing average noise levels to rise as said in the article.
- jkestner 2y ago
  I wonder what the convenience does to our strategic planning skills. I spend a decent amount of effort building up kids’ impulse control, and they’ll need it in a world of marshmallow tests.
zabzonk 2y ago
are you missing a /s here, doctor pangloss?
palata 2y ago
We're literally on the verge of collapsing because of climate change and mass extinction, and that is if WW3 doesn't come first. Robots are not solving any of those problems. Also the Jetson's seem to live in a world without any nature left, I don't see how that is desirable.
- avar 2y ago
  > We're literally on the verge of collapsing > because of climate change and mass extinction We're really not, and that's not me being a climate change denier, but deferring to the UN's IPCC reports on the topic. I encourage you to read the reports. Yes, we're in some trouble, but even their bleakest predictions are nowhere near "collapse". > Robots are not solving any of those problems. How many of these people getting toothpaste or whatever delivered by electrically powered drone would alternatively be firing up their dinosaur-powered F-150 to drive to the local supermarket instead? It's solving that problem.
  - JKCalhoun 2y ago
    > How many of these people getting toothpaste or whatever delivered by electrically powered drone would alternatively be firing up their dinosaur-powered F-150 to drive to the local supermarket instead? We can be outraged about both.
    - fragmede 2y ago
      How do you suggest toothpaste should occur in the real world? I can only go to the store with my electric vehicle which uses organically mined lithium in its batteries, charged by free trade manufacturered solar panels? To get toothpaste which hasn't been tested on animals (only humans) made up of chemicals that don't use any "bad" chemicals?
      - alt227 2y ago
        You seem to think that everything you do requires buying a commercial product, with no alternatives. That is the success of the capitalist advertising industry. It really isnt as hard as you think to live a low impact life without buying more stuff to help you do it. Personally I walk or cycle to the store, and buy toothpaste that is made from zero chemicals and is packaged in 100% recycled materials. If you want to go further than that, then before companies started convincing people that they needed to buy toothpaste, people used crushed charcoal from their fires alonog with mint leaves for freshness. Free, no transportation required, and just as effective, if not more so. I am very happy to subscribe to this kind of lifestyle in order to reduce human impact on a global scale. Are you?
JKCalhoun 2y ago
> delivery driver peeing in a Gatorade bottle to meet quotas I agree that that is fucked up too. But that's kind of my point about the layers of crap once you start digging. But you're giving a false dichotomy — like we have to choose between flying chainsaws and drivers peeing in bottles. I'm pretty sure that most people thinking about it for a bit can come up with a few more alternatives.
piva00 2y ago
Jetson's style future is a 1960s fantasy of futurism that hasn't held at all to the "cool" factor. Robots doing deliveries while creating noise pollution isn't cool at all, the new cool future is one where we are more intertwined with and respectful of nature, where we can live in calm places with green and convenience comes from smart solutions not a brute force fleet of Wall-E robots beeping around us all the time, instead one where the smart solutions are almost invisible so we can enjoy the environment around us. I much prefer seeing more trees in cities rather than metal, glass, and motors. Unfortunately the urban design of most of the USA is not prepared to embrace the new cool future; current American urban fabric cannot support small shops dotted around neighbourhoods where you can shop for some basic items while fetching your newly delivered packages with a 10-15 minute walk taken going through community gardens, parks, and other amenities to calm your mind. It's all stroads with cars zipping by at 60 km/h or taking a walk passing by never-ending rows of gaudy suburban detached homes with no sense of uniqueness to the space like quirky parks, patches of woods with trails, and other features that can be interesting and calming to the mind at the same time. That's what I think is cool, coming from growing up in a megacity like São Paulo and moving to Stockholm, Sweden, I'm fucking tired of machines, noise, pollution, the machines should be more invisible as we venture into the future on this Earth, not more prominent and disturbing.
lm28469 2y ago
If your entire life revolves around buying and consuming I guess that world view can be explained. As for the gatorade bottle problem, it's been solved in pretty much the entire western world via worker's right and regulations. No amount of tech and drone will fix the American system as long as it runs this flavor of the capitalism software.

by wincy 2y ago

nemomarx 2y ago

Maybe try and get the noise level down to ambient traffic first, then?

noja 2y ago

I don’t recall this “Jetson’s style future” being not able to open the window because it sounds like chainsaws outside.

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
jkestner 2y ago
Maybe it’s more of a Futurama-style future.
- gs17 2y ago
  Futurama delivery drones seem to be pretty quiet, at least. Even in the recent episode mocking Amazon. I guess we need to invent whatever gently humming propulsion hovering sci-fi stuff uses.

mschuster91 2y ago

> Automation drives prices down and makes all of our lives better. The problem is, automation drives prices down so hard that Amazon and maaaaaybe one other large player will be the only game left in town. We'll end up being back in the era of corporate towns that were abolished barely a century ago.

aaronbaugher 2y ago
The book Hired by James Bloodworth, a British journalist, describes what happens to a town when Amazon graces it with a warehouse. Sadly, some communities are already there.

guitarlimeo 2y ago

Yeah well I don't agree that everything needs to be available to be delivered instantly. As much as it's useful, I don't like the "traditional" delivery driver industry either, just feels like going in the wrong direction to get more hours into your day doing something "productive". > Automation drives prices down and makes all of our lives better. As I said in other comment, this increases traffic (especially airtraffic which goes from 0 to non-zero) and it doesn't make my life better that my neighbors can order toothpaste via a drone, causing average noise levels to rise as said in the article.

jkestner 2y ago
I wonder what the convenience does to our strategic planning skills. I spend a decent amount of effort building up kids’ impulse control, and they’ll need it in a world of marshmallow tests.

zabzonk 2y ago

are you missing a /s here, doctor pangloss?

palata 2y ago

We're literally on the verge of collapsing because of climate change and mass extinction, and that is if WW3 doesn't come first. Robots are not solving any of those problems. Also the Jetson's seem to live in a world without any nature left, I don't see how that is desirable.

avar 2y ago
> We're literally on the verge of collapsing > because of climate change and mass extinction We're really not, and that's not me being a climate change denier, but deferring to the UN's IPCC reports on the topic. I encourage you to read the reports. Yes, we're in some trouble, but even their bleakest predictions are nowhere near "collapse". > Robots are not solving any of those problems. How many of these people getting toothpaste or whatever delivered by electrically powered drone would alternatively be firing up their dinosaur-powered F-150 to drive to the local supermarket instead? It's solving that problem.
- JKCalhoun 2y ago
  > How many of these people getting toothpaste or whatever delivered by electrically powered drone would alternatively be firing up their dinosaur-powered F-150 to drive to the local supermarket instead? We can be outraged about both.
  - fragmede 2y ago
    How do you suggest toothpaste should occur in the real world? I can only go to the store with my electric vehicle which uses organically mined lithium in its batteries, charged by free trade manufacturered solar panels? To get toothpaste which hasn't been tested on animals (only humans) made up of chemicals that don't use any "bad" chemicals?
    - alt227 2y ago
      You seem to think that everything you do requires buying a commercial product, with no alternatives. That is the success of the capitalist advertising industry. It really isnt as hard as you think to live a low impact life without buying more stuff to help you do it. Personally I walk or cycle to the store, and buy toothpaste that is made from zero chemicals and is packaged in 100% recycled materials. If you want to go further than that, then before companies started convincing people that they needed to buy toothpaste, people used crushed charcoal from their fires alonog with mint leaves for freshness. Free, no transportation required, and just as effective, if not more so. I am very happy to subscribe to this kind of lifestyle in order to reduce human impact on a global scale. Are you?

JKCalhoun 2y ago

> delivery driver peeing in a Gatorade bottle to meet quotas I agree that that is fucked up too. But that's kind of my point about the layers of crap once you start digging. But you're giving a false dichotomy — like we have to choose between flying chainsaws and drivers peeing in bottles. I'm pretty sure that most people thinking about it for a bit can come up with a few more alternatives.

piva00 2y ago

Jetson's style future is a 1960s fantasy of futurism that hasn't held at all to the "cool" factor. Robots doing deliveries while creating noise pollution isn't cool at all, the new cool future is one where we are more intertwined with and respectful of nature, where we can live in calm places with green and convenience comes from smart solutions not a brute force fleet of Wall-E robots beeping around us all the time, instead one where the smart solutions are almost invisible so we can enjoy the environment around us. I much prefer seeing more trees in cities rather than metal, glass, and motors. Unfortunately the urban design of most of the USA is not prepared to embrace the new cool future; current American urban fabric cannot support small shops dotted around neighbourhoods where you can shop for some basic items while fetching your newly delivered packages with a 10-15 minute walk taken going through community gardens, parks, and other amenities to calm your mind. It's all stroads with cars zipping by at 60 km/h or taking a walk passing by never-ending rows of gaudy suburban detached homes with no sense of uniqueness to the space like quirky parks, patches of woods with trails, and other features that can be interesting and calming to the mind at the same time. That's what I think is cool, coming from growing up in a megacity like São Paulo and moving to Stockholm, Sweden, I'm fucking tired of machines, noise, pollution, the machines should be more invisible as we venture into the future on this Earth, not more prominent and disturbing.

lm28469 2y ago

If your entire life revolves around buying and consuming I guess that world view can be explained. As for the gatorade bottle problem, it's been solved in pretty much the entire western world via worker's right and regulations. No amount of tech and drone will fix the American system as long as it runs this flavor of the capitalism software.