The article I quoted in the blog piece just below brought one other issue to mind. Consider:
Delivery Bots
Street droids will make house calls for mail, groceries, and supplies, while fleets of flying drones handle bigger orders. At the end of their shifts, the delivery bots return to the mothership—a self-driving van.
Combine this with social media, your TV and voila, there is no reason at all to ever leave the house. The joy of walking to the store and picking out just the right plumb or the exact steak for the BBQ – wait, no need for a BBQ since there will be few if any places to put a BBQ anyway.
I remember back in the dark ages that the Ralphs Market in the Marina was the best place to meet girls. You could look into their shopping basket and know if they had pets, what kind of wine they liked, and if they ate meat or fish. It was a great place to start a conversation. (And get slapped if you weren’t careful.)
No need for that anymore, there is a ‘bot’ or social media for that.
When I stroll around my neighborhood or walk over to the bodega nearby for something to finish the latest culinary creation, I also meet my neighbors and chat about this and that. No need with flying delivery and a bot ‘mothership.”
Will we become so insular that there is no need to leave the house at all?
Let’s face it. The seat you have on your sofa for that Dodger game is much better than the one at Dodger Stadium. Unobstructed views, close ups of the right fielder scratching his nose, and it’s a lot cheaper. Of course there are no Dodger Dogs and beer, no athletic peanut vendor tossing the bags of nuts just right, no idiot behind you yelling at the ump.
Granted I love the fact that I can get commodities on Amazon. But I love going to Best Buy just to touch the stuff.
Will we take the “experience” out of life? Dear Lord I hope not.
JVH
