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Amazon Go

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Re: Amazon Go

#551

Post by russelluresti »

delegate wrote: post #387

Look, I know this might not be a popular view here on HN, but I think this is useless. And bad. I'm not talking about the technology behind it (I think it's an amazing achievement).. I live in Barcelona and I have at least 5 medium-sized supermarkets within 5 minutes walking distance from my home. Plus there are several smaller shops that sell fruits and vegetables. I know all the people who work in these supermarket…

I get where you're coming from, but I whole-heartedly disagree. People have bound themselves to employment for too long. The entire idea that you need to contribute to someone else getting wealthy to have any value to society is stupid. People need to remember that they have meaning and purpose and value without having a job. And that's where we're heading.

Technology like this will make a lot of jobs obsolete. And, in the short-term, there will be a lot of problems with unemployment or underemployment. But, ultimately, a system of universal basic income (or something like it) will be implemented, allowing people to disassociate their identities with their jobs. It will free up their time to do other things, like help out in their communities, create art, or pursue their other passions. They can still work if they want to, but they won't need to. And they'll be able to choose jobs that they're passionate about instead of the jobs they have to do to pay rent and provide food.

Stores like this won't remove the interactions you have with your neighbors - those interactions will just change locations. Instead of seeing the cashier at the supermarket, maybe she'll be giving your daughter singing lessons because she was allowed to focus on something she loved doing instead of something that paid the bills.

Re: Amazon Go

#552

Post by [deleted] »

delegate wrote: post #387

Look, I know this might not be a popular view here on HN, but I think this is useless. And bad. I'm not talking about the technology behind it (I think it's an amazing achievement).. I live in Barcelona and I have at least 5 medium-sized supermarkets within 5 minutes walking distance from my home. Plus there are several smaller shops that sell fruits and vegetables. I know all the people who work in these supermarket…

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Go

#553

Post by batrat »

platz wrote: post #508
Ph0X wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't that we save 2 minutes, it's that there's now 10 less job we need. And that may seem as a negative at first, but the idea is that as more and more job get automated, prices should go down until the point where people will not have to work full weeks anymore, or rather, focus on learning and reaching higher education, rather than doing dummy work all day (aka just scanning items non stop for 8 hours).

> prices should go down unlikely - can think of a bunch of reasons why this wouldn't happen. > people will not have to work full weeks anymore, or rather, focus on learning and reaching higher education too idealistic - why aren't the people who "aren't working full weeks" today focusing on learning and reaching higher education? The logic doesn't work for the people already in this target group, today.

At the end of the day, that CEO has to make bigger profits to justify the technology investment.

Re: Amazon Go

#554

Post by jedberg »

I suspect during the beta they've asked their employees to try and steal things amd move things to the wrong place -- really push the software.

At least I hope they did. I assume they are going into this expecting a loss while they work out the kinks.

Re: Amazon Go

#555

Post by icebraining »

anonbanker wrote: post #459
icebraining wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point wasn't that employees cared about the loss, but about having to clean-up the mess. Especially if they're forced to work overtime on account of that.

There's some interesting concepts you've brought up here: 1) Does Wal-Mart force their employees to do overtime? How is this legal? 2) Are Wal-Mart employees paid well enough to take pride in the appearance of their store? 3) Do Wal-Mart employees have a bad day because they have to fish an open bag of sliced ham out of a box in the Shoe Department? my personal experience is "no" on all three, but I'd be interested t…

Well, now it's my time to shit on Walmart :)

Regarding (1): http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=87844&page=1

Re: Amazon Go

#556

Post by ako »

mikeash wrote: post #489
Ph0X wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn't that we save 2 minutes, it's that there's now 10 less job we need. And that may seem as a negative at first, but the idea is that as more and more job get automated, prices should go down until the point where people will not have to work full weeks anymore, or rather, focus on learning and reaching higher education, rather than doing dummy work all day (aka just scanning items non stop for 8 hours).

It might be worthwhile to re-frame it. Rather than say "10 fewer jobs," say "10 people are no longer forced to spend eight hours a day sitting in front of a cash register." That assumes we can find something better for them to do, of course. But man, we have to try! Forcing people to do things a machine can do is inhumane.

Look at what happened in the us. Unemployed people are looking towards the government to make sure that there are jobs for them to do.

But how can we be sure that enough meaningful jobs will exist for all people who want to work? It would be kind of surprising if there was a meaningful full job for everyone.

This feels like former communist countries where everyone was employed, although many jobs were pointless.

Re: Amazon Go

#557

Post by stewjacks »

delegate wrote: post #387

Look, I know this might not be a popular view here on HN, but I think this is useless. And bad. I'm not talking about the technology behind it (I think it's an amazing achievement).. I live in Barcelona and I have at least 5 medium-sized supermarkets within 5 minutes walking distance from my home. Plus there are several smaller shops that sell fruits and vegetables. I know all the people who work in these supermarket…

A store that you appreciate is build around the products and knowledge that the owners and staff provide, but removing the checkout line isn't going to change that. There's no reason this tech can't proliferate and become as cheap as barcode scanners. Having people less focused on scanning the products and more focused on communicating with customers and helping them find the exact product they want makes a whole lot of sense to me.

Re: Amazon Go

#558

Post by glup »

If the justification for merging the produce stand, bakery, fishmonger, butcher, etc. into one is the efficiency of a shared POS and delivery system, this could provide the justification for splitting them back out, at least in upscale markets. Rather than cashiers, you would have "consultants." And you get richer data for supply chain decisions.

Re: Amazon Go

#559

Post by IshKebab »

delegate wrote: post #387

Look, I know this might not be a popular view here on HN, but I think this is useless. And bad. I'm not talking about the technology behind it (I think it's an amazing achievement).. I live in Barcelona and I have at least 5 medium-sized supermarkets within 5 minutes walking distance from my home. Plus there are several smaller shops that sell fruits and vegetables. I know all the people who work in these supermarket…

You could make the same argument about any job that nobody would really want to do if they had the choice and that machines have taken over.

Do you want to bring back elevator operators?

Re: Amazon Go

#560

Post by flinty »

elicash wrote: post #43

I worked at a grocery store for several years, and one thing I recall is customers CONSTANTLY putting items back in a random aisle, rather than where they found it. I wonder how this tech deals with that? Maybe they figured that out, too. But I was amused in the video when I saw the customer putting it back where it belonged, because that's not how I remember that going... All that said, this is fantastic and excitin…

you are forgetting by the time this becomes a reality we would have all become perfect human beings with perfect ethics and morals and social responsibility just the way silicon valley has always intended and designed every product for
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