Re:Everyday robots are slowly leaving the lab
by FredPret on Tuesday November 23, 2021 @03:23PM
(#29322921)
Your central thesis is that more automation = bad, at least in the short term, and should therefore be halted. I've got a problem with that.
- Why is the amount of automation we have good, and more is bad? That's an "I've got mine" approach. You're essentially saying that you're happy with your gadgets (dishwasher et al) and with the current price level and variety of consumer goods and no further improvement is needed.
- Who decides where the line between enough and too much is? A rich Westerner? Or an African without lights, running water, or a washing machine, who works by manually recycling garbage?
- How did we deal with the massive changes automation has already made to society? We're vastly better off now, why shouldn't we continue?
It's easy to think that our actions have no consequences, or more accurately that "someone else" will take care of the consequences of the actions we take. And the more we say it to ourselves, the more we believe it.