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by WalterBright12 hours ago |
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upvoteby red_admiral18 minutes ago|
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Even after taking a higher percentage of shoplifting into account.
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upvoteby ridgeguy6 hours ago|
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This is why I use the human-run checkout lines. I want to keep the humans employed.
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upvoteby WalterBright6 hours ago|
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Our high standard of living is due to machines doing the work rather than humans.
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upvoteby america_sux5 hours ago|
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Not all machines lead to increase in the standard of living, and many things that would improve the standard of living are not done. At some point the argument you have made becomes irrelevant and cliched.
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upvoteby WalterBright4 hours ago|
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> Not all machines lead to increase in the standard of living

I did not say "all" machines. If I had meant "all" I would have written "all". That's what the word "all" is for.

Consider: "people like ice cream" Riposte: "not everybody likes ice cream"

I see this kind of response over and over here. It's cliched and irrelevant.

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upvoteby america_sux52 minutes ago|
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It was implied. Why else would you use that argument in responding to ridgeguy's comment about using human-run checkout lines? What machines would you point to as making the world worse?

In any case, since it bothers you so, you explained the situation yourself: "The self-checkout is there because it is cheaper than a cashier."

It's an error to equate "cheaper" to "increase in standard of living" because the people benefiting from the reduction in cost are usually not the entirety of the community, and it's unfortunate that someone of your caliber accepts such lazy thinking.

Over the last twenty years, automation has increased but the standard of living has gotten worse.

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upvoteby psd12 hours ago|
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You both miss the crux of the argument, i think. It would be more precise to say that physical machines raise the standard of living that we measure, but abstract machines reduce that which we don't measure. (Viz, finance.)

Compared to a generation ago, we can stuff more crap in our pockets and wardrobes, but housing is precarious and public institutions are weaker. Good luck supporting a family on a bottom-quartile wage.

GDP, measures of inflation: Goodhart's law.

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upvoteby whilenot-dev5 hours ago|
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All fine and dandy, but in the case of self-checkouts the cashier work is done by myself, and I'm not a machine.
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upvoteby OJFord5 hours ago|
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I scan and bag while I shop, so self-checkout is just paying. It's barely a shift of work from cashier to me, because I have to pick things up and place them in my bag/basket/trolley anyway, scanning them as I do is barely an increase in work.
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upvoteby nehal3m3 hours ago|
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Humans are still doing the work, except now it’s you instead of someone earning a wage. You do it for free!
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upvoteby bluefirebrand5 hours ago|
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Part of our high standard of living relies on living in a high trust society, which self checkouts seem to erode.
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