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Comment by kevinelliott | Hacker News Reader

Oh come on. Why are we still building technology that further isolates us from each other? You need facial recognition in a store to offer a customer rewards? Why can't you just remember your damn customers, person to person? Why must EVERYTHING be automated by computers?

Further isolating us from each other and making us all less familiar with each other is what causes us to divide, and then it leads to people not understanding each other anymore. We all know where that gets us.

From a scientific and engineering perspective, this stuff is great, but I don't think it's actually going to make our lives better.

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Because you have thousands of customers every day, and you're open 18 hours a day and staffed by rotating shifts of people? Or because you're a chain of stores? Or because you operate a series of related businesses? I'm all for keeping things human-scale, but the idea that I'm going to have a personal relationship with the guy who sells me a TV is a bit much.

I don't want stores like that keeping any kind of track me.

I remember ten years ago clerks at some grocery store had been trained to say good bye to me by my name after they read it from my credit card. The effect wasn't loyalty, it was creepiness.

I notice this isn't done anymore.

The stores here still do it. They think my name is Ramon Vera, though.

My name... is Inigo Montoya. You billed my father. Prepare to die.

That really depends on what it's used for.

I don't see it as a replacement, but as an improvement.

I live in a luxury building in Manhattan. 35 floors. We have 5 doormen; they know every single person who lives in the building by name. Not only that, but they also know regular visitors by name.

When one walks in, they don't glance at a monitor to figure out who you are. They know you, they remember previous conversations (oh hi, Joubert, didn't you recently see Momix at The Joyce?)

I cant stand it when a "customer service representative" has to "fake" knowing me.

That's 5 people who's full time job is almost entirely to know the names of a little less than 1000 people. There are plenty of stores in which that many different, new people walk through the door every day.

What about the day no one wants to do this shitty job? Maybe then you'll be happy that some computer recalls your name. I know this sounds provocative but my point is that some jobs will simply get replaced by computers and robots in a not so distant future. The same happened with agriculture in less than a century and the day will come that no one will want to be a doorman.

there are many people who would rather have a job as a doorman than work in the robot factory.

I know many people who would rather work on CRM software than have to memorize thousands of customers. My point is that having human beings whose sole purpose is to remember your name isn't a luxury that should be taken as granted.

You aren't taking it for granted if you are paying for the service as part of your luxury apartment's fees.

Who says there will either job in the future?

But will there be people who would hire these people?

Why do you think this job is shitty?

Or do you think only software engineering and other "creative" jobs are worthy, and every other job shitty?

I enjoy writing software, in the same way that I enjoy breathing; it's my natural way to solve problems and explore ideas. Which is why I'm having a fantastic time with my startup, Mad Wombat Software.

But, you know what? I was just as happy when I was working as a waiter at a small French restaurant.

I danced with a widowed ninety-year old woman on her birthday. Took a picture with a guy celebrating his 40th wedding anniversary, because I looked exactly like a younger version of him. Helped a very nervous boyfriend propose to his future wife.

None of these things were big, or important in the grand scheme of society, but they made life so much more worthwhile for the people I served. There's a great deal of happiness to be found in being an excellent host.

There are people that really enjoy being doormen, and waiters, and bartenders. They work fewer hours and get more exercise than programmers as well, and also get to interact with a ton of other people -- something that I envy a bit as I bang away at my laptop every day.

I have recently been addressed with my name by a flight attendant. I fly a lot but it's been the first time ever. They've always had this information but they almost never use it. I wonder if it would be the same in stores.

Perhaps it is a bit to late to resist. This trend started with the automobile, and only increased with the advent of television.

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