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I've been thinking about this for a while, from a technological standpoint I agree with this story, from a sociological standpoint I don't. People for the most

by donkeyd 13y ago

I've been thinking about this for a while, from a technological standpoint I agree with this story, from a sociological standpoint I don't. People for the most part don't trust machines at the moment, which will slow down acceptance of things like self-driving cars, which Google has proved to be safer than human-driven cars. Another thing "regular folks" don't want is to be talking to robots all day long. At the McDonalds counter they want to be able to yell at the clerk for not getting the order right, and want the satisfaction of seeing a manager reprimand the clerk. They want to make small-talk with the cashier at the gas station, they want a human hair-dresser to tell them what human fashion is like this year. If the world was full of (semi)-autistic developers from silicon valley, sure, this would be feasible. In the real world the "regular folks" themselves will be the reason they still have their place in the world. Also, in order to automate everything a lot of raw materials will be necessary, which will lead to a price increase which in turn could make people cheaper than automation.

mariusz79 13y ago
People don't trust machines yet everyone of use uses them daily. What's a dishwasher, an ATM, or a microwave if not a specialized robot? Most people today don't consider machines they use everyday to be a robot and the same thing will happen with other robots like automated clerks, cars etc. Robots have a way of sneaking on people, without people noticing it, until they are out of a job.
mrgoldenbrown 13y ago
I have observed the opposite in my own life: people don't seem to mind ordering things from Amazon, which involves no small talk unless they catch the UPS guy in the act of tossing the package towards the doorstep. In my experience people favor using credit cards at the self serve pump over having to talk to a cashier to pay for gas. Lots of people use the ATM in a bank's lobby, even when the bank is open and they could go make small talk with a teller. Does anybody go out of their way to buy a car without ABS, because they "don't trust" the machine to do a better job of braking than they can?

by donkeyd 13y ago

mariusz79 13y ago

People don't trust machines yet everyone of use uses them daily. What's a dishwasher, an ATM, or a microwave if not a specialized robot? Most people today don't consider machines they use everyday to be a robot and the same thing will happen with other robots like automated clerks, cars etc. Robots have a way of sneaking on people, without people noticing it, until they are out of a job.

mrgoldenbrown 13y ago

I have observed the opposite in my own life: people don't seem to mind ordering things from Amazon, which involves no small talk unless they catch the UPS guy in the act of tossing the package towards the doorstep. In my experience people favor using credit cards at the self serve pump over having to talk to a cashier to pay for gas. Lots of people use the ATM in a bank's lobby, even when the bank is open and they could go make small talk with a teller. Does anybody go out of their way to buy a car without ABS, because they "don't trust" the machine to do a better job of braking than they can?