From: Christian Weisgerber (naddy@mips.inka.de)
Date: Wed Aug 28 2002 - 16:34:21 MDT
Seen on Slashdot, this is an article about the experimental
introduction of a very large, 200-product vending machine that
competes with a small convenience store.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/28/national/28AUTO.html
The article puts a mostly positive spin on the idea, but there are
some choice quotes I feel compelled to comment on:
| One bystander muttered about "dehumanizing technology,"
| I'm concerned about the people this is going to put out of work," said
| David Bottoroff, an editor. "It's shockingly inhumane, and it's
| also an eyesore.
Ironically, I feel exactly the opposite. If there's something that
is "dehumanizing" or "inhumane", then that's making people perform
the work a (non-sentient) machine can perform as well. It is
shocking that people should have to do the job of vending machines,
and it's high time a stop be put to this terrible abuse.
Besides, the machine is likely to be friendlier, too.
(I know Americans like to moan about receiving bad service, but
really, in the U.S. shop clerks and the like are extremely friendly
and eerily servile. I suspect this is due to laxer labor protection
laws. In U.S., if sales staff are surely to customers, you fire
them. In Germany--and more or less the rest of the EU--it is very
difficult to get rid of an employee, even in the face of obvious
incompetence etc.)
-- Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de
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