It's 9AM.
I just like sharing, I said.
She made a noise in her throat.
We were talking about the little things I do.
I don’t really share my thoughts anymore.
Not with people and not in person.
The exception is here, which proves the rule.
Every thought has a contrary one.
And the contrarian likes to respond like a Troll.
Can you imagine telling someone who has a different point of view that they are a “fucking idiot.”
I mean, I tell other driver’s that all of the time, but that’s because blinkers have become a relic of the past.
And I’m in the truck with the windows closed, so all they can really see is one bird flying.
Still, when folks try to ask questions in person, I deflect.
Deflection is good.
Because sometimes I feel like a stranger in a strange land.
I blame reading.
Too much fiction that makes me excited about a future.
In a part of the world where all the talking heads and pundits want to go back to “better days” by robbing, grifting, grafting and shackling.
I read non-fiction that makes me stoked about what could be happening too.
And because I read so much,
Too much, I have been told,
I like to put things together.
Drawing lines on a map dots to a potential future.
Like self check out at big stores.
A lot of people don’t like it.
They bitch and moan about being “employees” of the store.
The same moaning and bitching when that big store popped up and pushed out all the mom and pop joints.
Where it’s now a weekly visit and trip.
I’m a fan of the self checkout.
Saves me time standing in a queue and I hate standing in line.
Hate waiting for things that should take only moments.
But for fans of being checked out by a teller, here’s your future.
Elon Musk announced his Teslabot will be ready in a year or so.
The Teslabot is a humanoid robot with extreme manual dexterity, connected to an AI and linked by Starlink.
He predicts there will be 1-4 bots for every human worker, increasing our productivity by a factor of 10X or more.
Imagine being checked out by a robot who can literally discuss anything you would like to discuss.
Wal Mart hasn’t announced any purchase orders for it, nor has Musk said where they were going.
But you can use logic to know warehouses are going to be filled with them.
Especially since we are short on warehouse space in the USA and that shortage is growing.
Workers will complain that they are being replaced, but I think it opens up opportunities for a new skill set.
Programming. Maintenance and repair. Installation. Networking.
Smart jobs that require smart workers for a smart future.
Plus thinkers who help people figure out how to create new other jobs to replace the ones being done by robots.
Or imagine robot helpers working with tradesmen and on dangerous jobs, reducing risk and doing things they can’t.
I mean, when I drive through the freeway construction that has closed every single entry and exit into and out of Little Rock, I see six or eight guys standing around one guy watching him work.
How would that be any different from three guys watching a robot work?
I’m not too worried about all the jobs being replaced, because of drivers.
Everybody thinks they are a good driver and everyone else on the road is bad.
Yet the roads are populated by people driving 90 miles an hour, talking on the phone while texting and eating and putting on mascara or hell, watching a movie on an ipad.
I saw it all.
The same thing will happen with Teslabot workers.
It’s all going to be bad to some, good to others, until it’s as common as cars, which replaced horse and buggy.
The future is going to be exciting.
If we can just learn to share more today.
Okay, as a 77 -year-old female veteran spend a little time in the Marine corps. I had to leave home at 18 because I didn't think I would be able to live in Alabama again and here I am back in Alabama. However, I don't mind the self checkout lanes but they hurt my back and I'm not talking about the scanning. I'm talking about the bag and I hate the bags because it's hard to get them apart when you're stuck together and they're brand new out of the box but I'm old enough to know better that I should take them off of the rack they just got put in and flap them back and forth with the wind so you can put air in the bag. So when you get ready to pull it off to load your craft in it, it'll open peacefully. Now on to the people driving down the road. Try to imagine being a truck driver and you've got a load this approximately 37.40,000 lb on for God sakes. I hope. Ain't going to read this anyway. You're behind a car and that car just has to pass you and when it passes you it goes one block and turns right. You on the break you throw on your jake brake and you pray to God that you're going to stop. They mentioned having trucks that don't have drivers and then somebody laughed and jokes and said well maybe we need robots. Oh the only thing I want that robot to do was unload that trailer. I wouldn't want him to touch the steering wheels or controls the radio or anything but where would he sleep? Would he sleep sitting in the seat or would he demand a bed too? Because he ain't sleeping with me. Anyway, I like what you said. I agreed with everything that you said and I was really surprised that you're basically from Arkansas. That's a wonderful state but I'll get off my bandwagon cuz I got to take my horses and put them in the shed. I enjoy reading and I read everything I can get my hands on and that's virtually
I ❤ self-checkout too. I've had to quit using it though. There's a trend in my small city to only accept debit or credit cards in self-checkout lanes and I pay for everything possible in cold, hard cash. Why would I do that when corporations and government have gone out of their way to make debit and credit payments super convenient and quick? I like my privacy, regardless of the fact I probably live the most boring life in modern history.
The U.S. government is trying to introduce CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) and digital ID. They're selling it as easy and convenient but they're not telling you the whole story. CBDC will eventually completely eradicate our cash economy. You will never again be able to buy something without dozens of bureaucrats knowing what, when, why and how you bought it and being able to tax you for everything you do, pay and buy with pinpoint precision. You won't be able to give the homeless vet on the corner a few bucks or a handful of change to buy him some lunch. The government can freeze your assets *completely* for any reason or for no reason whatsoever.
When I speak to people about this, many roll their eyes and say I'm a paranoid conspiracy theorist. Really? Where were you from March 2020 through a few months ago when the government closed your church, school and business, censored you and top medical professionals who questioned the safety and efficacy of the mRNA shots, forced you to inject that experimental drug or lose your job and mandated you breathe through a filthy cloth which, at best, was useless and, at worst, was harmful (see: Cochrane Study)?
The Founding Fathers would have been shooting by now, so yeah, I love self-checkouts, but I have questions.