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    392 points lairv | 28 comments | | HN request time: 0.666s | source | bottom
    1. Workaccount2 ◴[] No.45527640[source]
    What does your life around your house look like when you can shamelessly leave a mess everywhere? It almost makes the uncomfortable with the amount of laziness it enables. At least with a human maid you still feel shame leaving a mess, but a robot?
    replies(7): >>45527683 #>>45527777 #>>45527855 #>>45527969 #>>45528037 #>>45528174 #>>45528227 #
    2. ACCount37 ◴[] No.45527683[source]
    If you believe that thankless, pointless busywork is a virtue, then surely, Sisyphus must be the most virtuous man of them all.
    replies(5): >>45527792 #>>45528065 #>>45528244 #>>45531423 #>>45539505 #
    3. m-p-3 ◴[] No.45527777[source]
    Should I feel bad to use a dishwasher or a washing machine?

    Also one of the chores I hate doing the most is folding clothes. If I could have a machine that does it well every time, I'd buy it.

    replies(2): >>45527915 #>>45529136 #
    4. the_other ◴[] No.45527792[source]
    Cleaning is pointless?
    replies(3): >>45527852 #>>45528343 #>>45528377 #
    5. simultsop ◴[] No.45527852{3}[source]
    If there's an automated system to do it for you conveniently, it becomes.
    6. Teever ◴[] No.45527855[source]
    How much of a difference is there really between someone who lives in the west and is tidy and someone who isn't when things like carbon emissions, landfill consumption, and microplastics production are the same?

    You can wash the dishes and tidy up after every meal, rinse and sort your recycling but you're still trashing the planet more or less the same as the person who does none of those things.

    7. jstummbillig ◴[] No.45527915[source]
    It's an interesting thought. How much not obviously connected stuff relies on the discipline that (for example) doing mundane tasks effectively/regularly asks from us, to not start breaking down in ways we really would not like?

    It's us, flesh blobs. Long after we cover everything in AI and robots around us, we will not change easily. Societal drift is slow, genetic drift is slower.

    (For the record: Gimme my robot, but interesting thought nonetheless)

    8. mclau153 ◴[] No.45527969[source]
    Im willing to bet 95% of American homes have a pile of laundry they would very much like a robot to wash, dry, fold, and put away while they go to their jobs during the week so they can have more free time on the weekends
    replies(3): >>45528075 #>>45539531 #>>45539553 #
    9. CooCooCaCha ◴[] No.45528037[source]
    Why are you fixated on laziness and shame when it comes to tedious household tasks?

    Why is it so important to you that people fold their own clothes and wash their own dishes?

    Why do you idolize a life of increased drudgery?

    replies(1): >>45528404 #
    10. 4b11b4 ◴[] No.45528065[source]
    I have come to think cleaning is actually one of the most virtuous acts for a human. Even more so as we live in societies which produce waste as a fundamental mode of operation
    11. mclau153 ◴[] No.45528075[source]
    The robot doesnt even have to do laundry in a smart, efficient, or speedy way, it can be much slower than a human as long as it gets it done before the next week has arrived it is helping countless people
    replies(1): >>45536807 #
    12. austy69 ◴[] No.45528174[source]
    This raises a very interesting philosophical question - what do our lives look like if every single inconvenience disappears? Something tells me we would be just as miserable (or happy) as when we had those inconveniences.

    On the other hand, would the removal of these inconveniences allow for the highest calling of humanity - I argue creativity - to flourish to the fullest? My gut reaction is once again that inconveniences are actually a very important resistance to creativity, like how you need gritty sand paper to create smooth wood.

    You can buy an expensive robot, or maybe you can meditate and be mindful that inconveniences play an important role in the meaning of your life. I am of course speaking of the household use here - I think the debate is likely different for a business setting.

    replies(2): >>45528305 #>>45535402 #
    13. alkonaut ◴[] No.45528227[source]
    Yeah. I have a person that comes once every 2 weeks and does a cleaning. But even though this is that person's job, the house never looks so good. I don't want someone to have to clean up my mess. Vacuuming the floors is fine. But not having to carry my socks to the laundry and put my cups in the dishwasher.

    If my cleaner was a robot, I'm sure I'd eventually lose that sense of embarrassment. I'm usually polite with ChatGPT but I think that's also passing...

    14. Blumplumi ◴[] No.45528244[source]
    Funny enough, i'm 38 now and often enough thankless and 'pointless' busywork sometimes feels like a virtue.

    But only for me because I have the feeling i lived out my normal environment and i'm not rich enough yet to expand so I can become busy again in a more meaningful way. Specifically having a big house/workshop to do things in my future workshop.

    15. modeless ◴[] No.45528305[source]
    We will never run out of small inconveniences. Today's world would look impossibly convenient and easy to anyone from 100 years ago, let alone 1000 or 10,000. Yet we still perceive hardships. Humanoid robot servants won't change human nature.

    Besides, servants are nothing new. They're rare in the US but common in some other countries, and the people who grow up with them are maybe somewhat different but not radically changed IMO.

    replies(2): >>45528493 #>>45532369 #
    16. browningstreet ◴[] No.45528343{3}[source]
    All the mindfulness threads on this site would like a word.
    17. Citizen_Lame ◴[] No.45528377{3}[source]
    It is, but we want our habitat to be clean.

    If robots can fight entropy for us, all the better.

    18. Blumplumi ◴[] No.45528404[source]
    Daily live is living.

    There is not a magic portal opening up when you are able to optimize ever aspect away of living and you will gain access to enlightment and everything is different.

    And don't get me wrong, I have no clue how our society would look like if everything is done by ai and robots because we as a society don't talk about it and don't give everyone the resources they want or need if they have suddenly no 'drugdgery' anymore.

    Give me a million today and i will spend the next 10 years rebuiling an old castle and I will have A LOT of fun doing this. Let me check, my bank balance is not at one million.

    Instead i have to pay for a lot of things and then I have to work for 40 hours. Suddenly i'm great at my job, get valued but this is just Drudgery even if its complex work. Its work for someone else which doesn't matter to me.

    19. Workaccount2 ◴[] No.45528493{3}[source]
    A few months ago a read an article written by a woman who has dated a few men from extremely wealthy families. The article was about why you are dumb if you plan to "marry rich".

    One reason that caught my attention was how she described the behavior of these people, who have the world at their fingertips, who have never really known hardship, and in turn have full blown meltdowns about the most trivial annoyances. What car will we drive on our trip?! The salmon cracker appetizers are too salty to be served! They stocked the wrong oat milk in the mini-fridge!

    Almost like the need to get upset over inconveniences is ingrained, and when there is a lack of real ones, your brain just latches onto whatever it can to let the "freakout" out.

    20. ihumanable ◴[] No.45529136[source]
    Until you have a cheap and effective robot butler. I also used to hate folding clothes, and then I got one of those folding boards that you see sometimes at clothing stores. (One of these things https://www.walmart.com/ip/BoxLegend-T-shirt-Folding-Board-T...)

    Honestly a game changer. Sounds stupid, but there's just something very satisfying about being able to quickly fold a bunch of clothes and get very nice results.

    And if we get humanoid robots at some point, they can use them too.

    21. GuinansEyebrows ◴[] No.45531423[source]
    being aware of and tending to your immediate environment (including cleaning it) is not thankless, pointless busywork. it's important to maintain some level of relationship to your environment; the more we disengage with it, the likelier we are to care less for it or the people who share it.
    22. HarHarVeryFunny ◴[] No.45532369{3}[source]
    > Besides, servants are nothing new. They're rare in the US but common in some other countries

    Right, although "servants" conjures up rich people with full time staff.

    A better comparison to the humanoid robot some people here are dreaming of to do their household chores is a country like India where it's common for middle class people to hire multiple different people to come do chores, daily or weekly, such as cooking, laundry, cleaning, yardwork, etc. These are cheap services.

    In the US, probably most people here on YC News (higher paid tech workers?) could afford to have lawn mowing service, weekly maid service, laundry pick-up/drop-off service (or bring to laundry yourself), and either eat out all the time, or UberEats etc. It's not clear that having a robot to do these tasks would be cheaper or preferable.

    23. gertlex ◴[] No.45535402[source]
    A bit on the nose, and entirely serious:

    I moved to CA a decade ago to join a robotics company.

    I've since acquired a wife, house and dog. Wife loves to cook, and would love a 2nd dog that didn't choose me. I am a sucker for DIY. If I were in an apartment still, with no pets... i.e. lots less chores to do (hooray hybrid work!)... I'd be seriously considering roles at Figure, which is 100% in-office instead. (their office is a sub 10 minute walk from my last apartment)

    How long that work satisfaction would last... very up for debate though!

    replies(1): >>45536832 #
    24. fragmede ◴[] No.45536807{3}[source]
    Assuming it's quiet. If it takes six hours to fold clothes in the middle of the night but it makes a racket while doing so, I could see that being a barrier to adoption.
    25. fragmede ◴[] No.45536832{3}[source]
    Ask retirees how they like being retired. Some of them love it, but others can't stand it and go back and find something to do.
    26. lm28469 ◴[] No.45539505[source]
    Our lives are thankless pointless busy work in the end, I feel like the end game of transhumanists is just having us all in Matrix style pods, 100% efficient, no pain, no waste
    27. lm28469 ◴[] No.45539531[source]
    I'm willing to bet 100% of americans would like to use a bit of the productivity boost of the last 50 years to work one less day per week during which they could dedicate an hour or two to taking care of their house.
    28. ◴[] No.45539553[source]