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Comment by syndicatedjelly | Hacker News Reader

> Automation is not about having an app for your lights, it’s about not having to think of trivial stuff like turning on a light.

I have lived in America my entire life, a relatively comfortable life, and this sentence makes me feel extremely alienated from first world culture.

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It’s just that you don’t think about all of the ones you already use. Elevators are the classic example here, or a washing machine.

Well no, the analogy would be if you got on an elevator and it could only be controlled by an app that you have to log in to use

strong agree here man. I like to think controlling my living environment being a primary function of life

just like growing your own barley, amiright?

What about what they described makes you think they’re not in control? It’s the same principle as a mercury switch thermostat; figure out what you want the system to do and then automate it so you don’t have to constantly screw with it.

Well technically Amazon/Google/Philips/whoever is in charge of turning on the lights. You just happen to be sending a message that you want your lights turned on, but next week they might ask for a little more personal information or they won’t turn on the lights.

It’s creepy af

Seems like you missed the part where people run these offline. Don’t be so helpless.

Hence for example using a clip lead on the bare terminals to turn your HVAC on and off when you feel the need, rather than automating the maintenance of temperature by such unworthy means as a thermostat.

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