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Comment by duxup | Hacker News Reader

I think the we're all sympathetic to the idea that one person's carelessness creates an impossible problem for someone else.

>Don't donate free labor to corporations.

That's absurd, someone takes two seconds to move an object so someone else can get their food on time. That's just being a good human rather that sweating about "free labor to corporations" first.

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In the moment, perhaps it is the right thing to do after all. I won't argue that. But if corporations are allowed to externalize the costs of their service failures onto the goodwill of the public, that's a dark path to go down.

But your point about it taking two seconds to help someone get their food is correct, but it's also why they'll be able to get away with it.

> if corporations are allowed to externalize the costs of their service failures onto the goodwill of the public

I would agree if the problem was the robot standing still, shouting, “I'm lost; Will somebody, please take me to {address}?!” In this case, the issue is people who leave junk in the middle of the road. The same scenario could occur where someone tosses a plastic bag out of their window, and it becomes trapped in the robot's wheels.

>>That's absurd, someone takes two seconds to move an object so someone else can get their food on time. That's just being a good human rather that sweating about "free labor to corporations" first.

Someone who can afford a robot delivery can afford a human delivery for an extra 50 cents, or learn from this situation to not use that company again because they use robots and robots... suck, or further incentivizes the delivery company to hire humans instead of destroying what is already a poorly paid and scarce economy of delivery drivers.

All wins in my book.

I'm pretty skeptical of folks who disregard basic human kindness, inserts their own hate for whatever it is they are concerned about and tries to disguise that as caring for others.

Whatever happens to "scarce economy of delivery drivers" is going to happen.

Clearing the sidewalk is just being nice to everyone.

Likewise, not a fan of folks who dismiss others' predicaments via injecting their own misunderstanding into an argument they neither understand, nor engage in earnestly.

Clearing the sidewalk is being nice. Clearing the sidewalk to help multibillion dollar companies so they cause less of a mess while pushing millions of others out of work is not.

Spare me your judgement.

I agree, you should never assist a pizza delivery driver. After all, Dominos makes billions of dollars, they can afford their own pizza-delivery assistance staff.

Maybe we can even make the case you should slow down delivery drivers! Pull in front of them and go quite slow, or block their bike path.

A weird example of false equivalency, as no one would in their right mind compare helping a human being doing their job with helping a robot assist in increasing profit margins for <insert random corporation>.

Jebus...

A weird example of false equivalency, as no one would in their right mind compare helping a human being (who may be busy studying or have trouble walking) get their food on time with helping a robot assist in increasing profit margins for <insert random corporation>.

People are not “50 cents” more expensive than robots…

Robots are also more functional.

What's your cut off for accepting this nuisance and detriment?

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