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Originally Posted by Elenny  I refuse to use the self check out lanes at supermarkets and department stores. |
So do I. But that's because I think they're poorly designed and woefully incompetent. Human beings are, currently, far more capable at scanning my items and putting them in a bag.
Except... I use a debit card. When I swipe it, it
automatically has a chat with my bank and then, speed of electrons, runs back and says, "It's okay! Here's the magic money!"
I'm sure my usage of the debit card and the ATM takes away the job of the bank teller. I'll tell Sandy you think she's out of a job next time I go to the bank.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elenny Because that automation that some of you love so much is taking away jobs from the people who need them most --- whether they are college students or 45 year olds. |
1) See Luddite fallacy.
2) Then they should learn how to take control of their lives and build their own jobs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Elenny We need to step back for a minute and use common sense. I would rather be associated with a 45 year old working at any supermarket than with some of the people that have a diploma, but still don't have a clue about what real life is all about. |
Real life: checking other people out at the supermarket. How nice.
What does this have to do with people you associate with? You can hang out in the slums of Saint Michele for all I care; they might have a better grip on real life than you do. Supermarkets? Department stores? How ineffably luxurious.
Do you remember when they automated the telephone service? Thousands of workers, mostly women, put out of jobs. Revamped the communication system completely. As a result, we are allowed to have the Internet. But no, automation is bad. It's horrible and nasty and those poor, poor people who made their living by connecting phone lines together are now on the streets...
Well, they're probably 80 or so, now. I can hear it now. Sitting in the slums of Los Angeles with an old, crochety woman. "Back when I was young, I was the fastest hand on the switchboard. But now with all this new-fangled technology and so-called progress, I'm out on the streets, cold and hungry. I remember the good old days, when Ol' Anna asked me to make sure her son didn't talk to that Jessica girl. They were good times. Spare a dime?"
This is the system the Internet is based on. Imagine: every time you load a webpage, someone would have to receive the request, connect you to the appropriate DNS, and pray that that webpage isn't the kind that loads images and Flash and Javascript from a dozen other servers. I'd say you're looking at 5 minutes per page.
Alternatively, why have airline-delivered mail, or email, when we could use the Pony Express? Just write your letter to that guy in China and hand it off to a guy who'll canter across the Pacific for ya. Real nice of him.
The next time you get in your car, think of all the horse trainers you put out of business.
And
speaking of college kids, I'm sure they all hate the electronic systems that automate the paperwork that processes millions of them through the system every quarter or semester. Drop a class? It'll be a week. Add a new one? Well, sit in. You might not get in, but we'll let you know in two weeks. Change your major? Geez, that'll involve at least two departments. A month, if you're lucky. I'm making this up, of course: I don't have such numbers. Then again, all of the above can be done today inside 10 minutes. Why? Because it's automated.
Your computer is one of the finest pieces of automation ever. To be fair, most of the job-stealing it did was
before its best successes as an automater. But where does the word "computer" come from? Oh, yes. It's a glorified calculator. It computes stuff. The first computer was a counting machine.
If you have a problem with automation, fine. Turn off your computer. Ditch your automobile (auto + mobile; get it?). Stop using your telephone. Stop using the city's water supply. Grow your own garden. Use it as a bathroom. Progress, of course, destroys communities and associates you with people who are disconnected from reality.