There's a lot of... judgement? projecting? something else? in this comment.
> As if the whole purpose in life is to reduce friction from our lives. It's not.
Purpose? No. But it does feel really good not to have friction with silly things in your everyday life.
> That is, people who might save an hour's time by automating activities don't go out and spend that hour productively. Likely they'll find something else that'll use up their time.
Why do you say so? What's objectively productive? Doing nothing with the extra time may be actually a productive / useful solution. If your day is full, just removing stress from life is great.
> we have people who work in industries which are automating jobs away [say Uber, or even supermarket automation, HFT, etc.] but who on the other hand want authentic hand made or bespoke items
Do they? Some probably. But generalising like that over whole industry's lifestyle is silly. Even if you do see those items, maybe they just buy something cool they like, which is simply not what's mass produced and stocked at Walmart.
I feel like you're trying to criticise lifestyles of other people, but don't see a real reason for it.
> I feel like you're trying to criticise lifestyles of other people, but don't see a real reason for it.
I feel like you are reading way too much into it. You say less friction "feels really good", but don't address his point that maybe less friction is not actually good. There are many areas of life where this is demonstrably true. Take road widths, for example. If we "reduce friction", we end up with wider and straighter roads which have shown to cause people to drive faster and results in more fatalities (i read this on the internet somewhere). Sometimes friction keeps us grounded.
I found nothing offensive about the parent comment, and have noticed similar things.
All it is is commentary [and irony], not judgement. It's not wrong or right, but it does have consequences on the human condition. Some positive, some negative.
For example, human inter-relationships are full of "friction". For some people not having friction would be ideal, for others a relationship without friction is no relationship at all.
And I think that can extend into the physical world. Maybe I'd like to remove the friction of having to wipe after going to the toilet --but it's also a good reminder we're still part animal. So it is when we actually have to drive or cook for ourselves. We're not just commanding people or things to do the bidding for us -we have to face the "dirty work" whether it's having another human do it for us or ourselves. But automation removes this mirror.
The "reason" for it is that we could lose touch with our own humanity. It all becomes abstracted --it's a transaction, the human labor (or lack of it) are not even considered any more. I know this might sound like it's coming from a luddite, but it's not. It's just observation and it may or may not have import in the future, if we keep going this route.
The inevitability of friction is one part of the human condition, and the drive to eliminate it is another. What separates humans from animals is that we can evolve intellectually by amassing tools and knowledge over generations about what causes friction and what we can do to eliminate it. But eliminating friction just means we get to work on harder problems, like how to leave this planet. So you never truly eliminate it, you just change its nature.
I found myself nodding along in a agreement with mc32's post. I usually stop by the ATM around Dawn, it's just one of those errands I enjoy. Not to mention the minimal possible tracking ability by aggregating payment history info. Small businesses that I frequent also seem to appreciate cash, which is plus.
> As if the whole purpose in life is to reduce friction from our lives. It's not.
Purpose? No. But it does feel really good not to have friction with silly things in your everyday life.
> That is, people who might save an hour's time by automating activities don't go out and spend that hour productively. Likely they'll find something else that'll use up their time.
Why do you say so? What's objectively productive? Doing nothing with the extra time may be actually a productive / useful solution. If your day is full, just removing stress from life is great.
> we have people who work in industries which are automating jobs away [say Uber, or even supermarket automation, HFT, etc.] but who on the other hand want authentic hand made or bespoke items
Do they? Some probably. But generalising like that over whole industry's lifestyle is silly. Even if you do see those items, maybe they just buy something cool they like, which is simply not what's mass produced and stocked at Walmart.
I feel like you're trying to criticise lifestyles of other people, but don't see a real reason for it.