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Comment by secstate | Hacker News Reader

Haha, I was writing some flowery philosophical disagreement about Curtis' post, but this was way better. Note: I like a great many things he's written, but this just falls flat on its face.

Makes me think of Paranoid Android. Fitter, Happier, more productive.

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Paranoid Android is very fitting. I think Curtis has some great ideas - but the things like give me the toaster that 80% of the people in the world favor, just falls flat on its face. What about the other toasters? What happened to choice - to choosing something different, because it might be not as well liked, but better? I know his blog post was moreover a non-analyzed wishlist, not meant to be carefully studied. I can't help but say that the sentiment was eerily deaf and soul-less, with a lack of humanity, a kind of wishing for the uber-human. There have been so many fictional novels based on utopian cyborg scenarios, and well, they don't end well. I will agree with Curtis on one thing, if we can eliminate many menial tasks, we will be freed in time and energy for more important and jovial endeavors. This in fact, relates to the recent article about a default base wage for everyone. Interesting ideas all around, but lets not remove our humanity at the cost of optimization.

I see researching and shopping for toasters as one of those menial tasks that you agree should be eliminated. You can do it yourself and dive into the 1000 choices if it's important to you, but it's nice to be able get a "quite good" result without having to give it much time or attention. Save the energy for making more interesting decisions.

I am tempted to say 'nice try cookingrobot' ;-)

Good point.

However, part of the 'personal shopper' wish beholds capitalism if it is too biased rather than user-specific and understanding of the individual and the variety of ways that humans have preferences - based on aesthetic, ease-of-use, etc. Shouldn't the toaster selection have a bit more intelligence than a straight communist 1-toaster-for-all choice?

Toaster oven, not toaster, but http://thesweethome.com/reviews/the-best-toaster-oven/

I use that site and its sister site for technology whenever I buy something. I could do my own research, but toaster ovens are commoditized enough that spending an extra 10 hours finding a better one than the one recommended is absolutely not worth my time.

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