How does one feel about having robotic “overlords” over another man? As one looks at the future, it seems less human and more robotic, as people are removed from jobs in the name of “efficiency” and “cost”, and companies seek to extract maximum profit from people without any regard to the humanity of society. This has been a constant theme in American society, but it is only getting worse.
Amazon has been at the head of this, noted most poignantly through the systematic abuse of employees and the promotion of automation, meanwhile the CEO of the company continues to enrich himself more each day than what he already is.
That said, Amazon is now opening a grocery store where it uses cameras, sensors, and AI to monitor people, and has no cashier there according to the Wall Street Journal.
Amazon Go Grocery will open in Seattle on Tuesday. It uses an array of cameras, shelf sensors and software to allow shoppers to pick up items as varied as organic produce and wine and walk out without stopping to pay or scan merchandise. Accounts are automatically charged through a smartphone app once shoppers leave the store.
The company has operated a string of Go-branded convenience stores since 2018 but improvements in camera technology and its use of algorithms have allowed it to build a 10,400-square-foot market, said Dilip Kumar, vice president of Amazon Go. That is about five times bigger than the largest existing Go store and Mr. Kumar said the technology could be deployed on an even larger scale. (source)
The world is changing yet again, and not for the better. The future is not some glorious technological endeavor, but a dystopic enslavement and the stripping of the humanity from men in the name of profit. It is a science fiction story that one could only dream of, but this dream is even more disturbing, as it is called reality.