18th January 2015, 12:09 AM
Automation is inevitable, you can't fight it. Embrace it. Phone lines are of course imperfect, but not so much a pain that companies do away with them. There are always human employees on standby to help, because automation is not intelligent enough to get us to that point yet. It may very well never be. And even when it does, there's a psychological satisfaction as a customer to know that if a machine shit the bed, a manual override by a technician will resolve the problem.
You see the same thing in self check-out lanes, an employee must be there to monitor it and ensure people don't cheat the system or steal. And me personally, I hate full-service gas stations. They are mandated in New Jersey. Yes, it is against the law to operate a self-service gas station in my neighboring state. It drives me crazy to have to wait for an attendant when I can do it myself and get out of there more quickly. It speeds up the process for everyone, and a gas station attendant is always there in case something goes haywire, say gasoline vomiting all over my shirt just as I'm lighting a cigarette, or that time I forgot to unhook the pump and started driving off. (I'm not the only one who has done that, right? :()
Don't mistake me: I'm skeptical of course of the whole "invisible hand of the free market" always being the best solution, but technology is quickly discarded if it cannot be adopted for better efficiency. If companies can save money, they'll have additional income to invest into new ventures, creating new jobs. Or alternatively, the government can raise taxes and administer the money to good use. We need a robust social net to keep everything in order. No citizen should ever go homeless, starving, or without medical care. Every person has something to offer this world, and we all must take care of our own. There's no "us" vs. "them", "hard, honest workers" vs. "lazy moochers". I try to see the best in everyone, and even people who are lazy and cheat the system are not worthless. Every human life has inherent worth. But I guess I'm going off on a rant.
As much as politicians and pundits wind people up about moochers off the system, I think they'll quickly get into shape if they see civil unrest getting too high. If we collapse into a bad enough depression, politicians will have no choice but to go further into debt just to keep our economy under control. We're at 18 trillion now, hoo-boy, that's double since Dubya. But even if it were ten times higher, if things are bad enough, you can bet we'll give a cushion to voters that can't make ends meet. Or otherwise their opponents will give voters better hope. People may often be brainwashed into voting against their interests, but you can only maintain the illusion for so long.
You see the same thing in self check-out lanes, an employee must be there to monitor it and ensure people don't cheat the system or steal. And me personally, I hate full-service gas stations. They are mandated in New Jersey. Yes, it is against the law to operate a self-service gas station in my neighboring state. It drives me crazy to have to wait for an attendant when I can do it myself and get out of there more quickly. It speeds up the process for everyone, and a gas station attendant is always there in case something goes haywire, say gasoline vomiting all over my shirt just as I'm lighting a cigarette, or that time I forgot to unhook the pump and started driving off. (I'm not the only one who has done that, right? :()
Don't mistake me: I'm skeptical of course of the whole "invisible hand of the free market" always being the best solution, but technology is quickly discarded if it cannot be adopted for better efficiency. If companies can save money, they'll have additional income to invest into new ventures, creating new jobs. Or alternatively, the government can raise taxes and administer the money to good use. We need a robust social net to keep everything in order. No citizen should ever go homeless, starving, or without medical care. Every person has something to offer this world, and we all must take care of our own. There's no "us" vs. "them", "hard, honest workers" vs. "lazy moochers". I try to see the best in everyone, and even people who are lazy and cheat the system are not worthless. Every human life has inherent worth. But I guess I'm going off on a rant.
As much as politicians and pundits wind people up about moochers off the system, I think they'll quickly get into shape if they see civil unrest getting too high. If we collapse into a bad enough depression, politicians will have no choice but to go further into debt just to keep our economy under control. We're at 18 trillion now, hoo-boy, that's double since Dubya. But even if it were ten times higher, if things are bad enough, you can bet we'll give a cushion to voters that can't make ends meet. Or otherwise their opponents will give voters better hope. People may often be brainwashed into voting against their interests, but you can only maintain the illusion for so long.