Hacker News Reader

Comment by yalogin | Hacker News Reader

We are going to be conditioned into thinking 20k-50k for a robot is ok to spend. The question is how long before get there

View on HN

Nobody has to condition me to see a useful robot as being worth 20K+. Being able to offload domestic labor would be a huge win. So would the more subtle benefits of living in a home that is always in pristine condition.

Once they're able to cook, they'll be in every middle-class household on earth.

That robot will of course be transmitting 24/7 video and audio to the mothership and be fully remotely controllable, and its corporate overlord will be able to override any programming you give it. Of course, "to enhance your customer experience".

No amount of money in the world would convince me to allow such a monster in my house.

If it provides similar utility as a car, what's the big deal about that price? It would be the same type of purchase, right?

No. A car empowers me to do things i cannot do myself. That is very different than taking on mundane tasks to free up more time for more minecraft.

Or kids. Or work.

Well yeah, if it can do most of the household chores and lasts a decade, it’s totally worth as much as a car to many people.

And we are being conditioned to think chores like getting drinks and putting the dishes away are beneath us. It is up there with motion- or voice-activated room lights. Want a robot to bring you coffee in bed each morning? Unless you are in a wheelchair, put the coffee machine on a timer and walk to the kitchen you lazy piece of ...

Dont know how to make toast? Too lazy to clean your own sheets? Everyone wanting one of these robots should have to do a few weeks of army basic training before earning the right to be this lazy. (Actuallty, iirc, we didnt wash our own sheets. But we did make our own toast!)

I agree there's a path where this encourages people to be even more sedentary and lazy. On the other hand, if I cook every meal and clean up after, plus take care of home cleaning, I could easily spend 3 hours a day on a variety of home tasks. A robot could potentially prepare better quality meals from fresh ingredients and save me 3 hours a day. It could also fix holes in my clothes and do other tasks I'm just not motivated enough to do. So the way to think about it is like you just gained a huge amount of energy and free time to do things you weren't doing before.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com