![]() ![]() A self service kiosk which costs a one off cost would easily replace an employee who has the annual salary in the region of the same amount. Although Wendy's reassured a changing world this would not affect the jobs of staff, the threat can't be ignored. To expand on the fast food example (and fast food will make you expand), it was advised in the news in February 2017 that Wendy’s is also expanding to this way of thinking to the target of 1000 Self service kiosks in their chain by the end of this year. Who would have thought that fast food would take on a similar model that Argos has been using for decade? Again this process reduced the responsibility of the employees behind the counter. When my meal was ready I was called to the counter to collect it. The last time I walked into a McDonalds (its a rarity, I have my boyish figure to consider) I ordered and paid for my meal from a very stylish touchscreen then waited for my food. In theory we are all now both shoppers and check out staff and not getting paid for the position. Today we voluntarily do the task ourselves and no-one seems to notice we are carrying out the checkout job for the supermarket, for free. It fascinates me to consider that a person used to get paid an hourly rate to scan your shopping and pack your bags, it was considered a service. These aren’t just the “Express/10 items or less” tills either these are tills where we pass through with a weekly shop. ![]() When we walk into supermarkets we see self-service tills, once again outnumbering staff tills. The crazy part of this is that it is accepted without question, especially if you are an online banker. In fact, my local bank opens at 10.30 and closes 15.30 Monday to Friday. In some banks the machines outnumber the employees. When we walk into banks we are encouraged to use the cash machines for standard banking, reducing the staff behind the counters. Technology has already started replacing people in numerous jobs. We are at the age of Metropolis without even realising it. They hated and attacked the machines that were cleaning the streets and providing services making mankind redundant with no reason to work.Īnd then it hit me. These demonstrations bordered along riots as crowds gathered to protest that they had no work. I remember (with limited memory - its been a while since I watched the movie) A vividly scene of demonstrations against technology taking peoples jobs. The Japanese remake by Rintaro had an updated theme in it where robots had taken over a lot of the jobs in society and this left people unemployed and redundant from that society. The original 1920’s movie by Fritz Lang had as one of its themes the massive divide between the rich and poor, those who lived on high and spent their days partying as the workers were committed to labour and what amounts to slavery in the bowels of a mega city. That movie would be Metropolis from 2001. If there was a movie that resembles our current situation it would be a Japanese animated movie released a few years later and based on a live action movie. In summary, we are currently living in the future that made the original movie futuristic but a remake redundant. We have smartphones (mini computers), wearable tech and networks which makes a remake of this particular movie somewhat redundant. It was released when the internet was in its infancy, but now we are at a point where we have reached and passed that future. It was noted that the original was based in the near future with wearable tech, upgrades on the tech, hackers etc. As I was driving to the radio one day, I heard a rather harsh review noting that one of the problems the movie had. Unfortunately the new movie is not doing too well. Recently you may have seen that a Japanese animated movie from the 90’s (which funny enough I had on DVD) called Ghost in the Shell has been recreated into a live action. Both of which inspired a quick view on society and a realisation of where we might be heading as a society especially concerning our future career opportunities. It actually came first from a brexit style comment I saw on television, and secondly from a movie that has just been released. Far from it, as I have made a living from technology. It is not from a mentality of “we’re all doomed!” or a techno-phobic viewpoint. ![]() My thoughts in writing this actually started with two lines of thought. ![]()
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