The automation removed a lot of the human interaction, creating a better experience for the customer.
In the short term.
However, by removing a lot of humans from the shopping interactions, it allows the removed humans to never learn from their mistakes, to stay isolated in their own views.
Will this actually make racism better or worse in the long run, as there isn't automation to "fix" these social problems of ours, at least in the US.
Relying on shopping interactions to teach these humans places a huge burden on the people they make these mistakes on. Sometimes I'm not looking to be a teachable moment, sometimes I just want to get my shopping done (or get a cab etc).
Without even the opportunity to interact, that divide and chance to learn is zero.
Maybe the 1 out of 100 times, you go to the supermarket, and are feeling good, and feel like just saying hi and do some small talk to the cashier... while it may not change the world instantly, incremental progress is better than lack of it.
Automation can make racism worse, I think. I look at the intense polarization that seems to be springing out of the Facebook and YouTube recommendation algorithms and I'm filled with dismay. Perhaps a lot of the fringe extremists have been around for a long time but these websites give them tools to connect with and win new recruits.
Where do they have the opportunity to address their prejudices? How can they understand if they never have the chance to talk to the other side, or have the other side be able to engage them?
With the automation, the semi-forced interaction is gone. Humans are "lazy" by default and those situations won't happen.
Are you saying that profiling people in stores is literally the only chance people have to talk to "the other side"?
How about they use any other available opportunity for human interaction in any other situation in their lives to address their prejudices?
I am not saying profiling people in stores is the only chance, as the profiling is already a base assumption. I'm saying the automation is taking away more semi-forced interaction point. My premise is that it's bad, as people can only really understand each other when they interact. And most people don't actively interact. The supermarket/shopping place is one place that generally is forced interaction.