It's about increasing productivity, which saves time (hassle, etc). Time is among our scarcest of resources.
Imagine not having to chop wood for your fireplace. Wouldn't that be amazing, to save such time? The natural gas and or electricity company is going to learn something about your lifestyle.
Imagine if you could tap your smartphone and easily get a taxi. That seems like it could be extremely useful. But then the company is going to learn something about you.
Imagine ordering a pizza or other takeout and giving them a form of payment other than cash. That'd be super convenient, not having to only carry cash all the time and being able to order online. But then the company knows something about you, such as what food you like to order and when.
Imagine buying a car from Tesla or a dealer and getting it routinely serviced. Of course now they're going to know how many miles you put on it and they'll learn something about you from how you treat your vehicle, the condition of its interior, etc. The gas station and charging station too, is going to know how often you fill up. But geez it'd be amazing if we had automobiles.
Imagine if we had trains, airplanes and buses that could haul large numbers of people very efficiently. That'd be pretty cool, what a hassle it would save not having to walk or ride a horse for 1,000 km. Of course, then lots of companies and government agencies are probably going to learn something about you every time you purchase a bus ticket, every time you get on a plane.
Imagine going to the blacksmith, the store, or Amazon.com, and ordering cookware and not having to craft your own. What a staggering savings of time that would be. But then the blacksmith might learn something about your lifestyle.
I don't see much creepy about what the parent said. It's a concentrated form of the types of technological productivity gains you're using on a constant basis in modern life and throughout your day, and humans have been using since the beginning.
Nearly every single thing you touch on a daily basis that is made by people is conceptually similar to what the parent is doing in terms of boosting automation / productivity. From using a pencil you bought at Target to the drink you buy at the convenience store, you're doing the same thing, and they all involve some trade-off (most of which are entirely meaningless).
> But then the blacksmith might learn something about your lifestyle.
But once the blacksmith has sold me the pot, that's the end of the data-exchange. He doesn't receive a continual feed of data about my usage of the pot. Maybe I'll go back five years later to get the pot repaired; that'll be a surprise to him. Perhaps he'll ask how I broke it, and I can fib to him.
Home automation is a great convenience and time-saver. That's not the concern. The concern is that megacorps are in the loop and are monetizing our lives.
An Amazon Echo should in an ideal world be able to operate just fine on a LAN without an Internet connection, or with just a web-server front-end for the owner to use. Just like my wifi AP or my weather station.
Imagine not having to chop wood for your fireplace. Wouldn't that be amazing, to save such time? The natural gas and or electricity company is going to learn something about your lifestyle.
Imagine if you could tap your smartphone and easily get a taxi. That seems like it could be extremely useful. But then the company is going to learn something about you.
Imagine ordering a pizza or other takeout and giving them a form of payment other than cash. That'd be super convenient, not having to only carry cash all the time and being able to order online. But then the company knows something about you, such as what food you like to order and when.
Imagine buying a car from Tesla or a dealer and getting it routinely serviced. Of course now they're going to know how many miles you put on it and they'll learn something about you from how you treat your vehicle, the condition of its interior, etc. The gas station and charging station too, is going to know how often you fill up. But geez it'd be amazing if we had automobiles.
Imagine if we had trains, airplanes and buses that could haul large numbers of people very efficiently. That'd be pretty cool, what a hassle it would save not having to walk or ride a horse for 1,000 km. Of course, then lots of companies and government agencies are probably going to learn something about you every time you purchase a bus ticket, every time you get on a plane.
Imagine going to the blacksmith, the store, or Amazon.com, and ordering cookware and not having to craft your own. What a staggering savings of time that would be. But then the blacksmith might learn something about your lifestyle.
I don't see much creepy about what the parent said. It's a concentrated form of the types of technological productivity gains you're using on a constant basis in modern life and throughout your day, and humans have been using since the beginning.
Nearly every single thing you touch on a daily basis that is made by people is conceptually similar to what the parent is doing in terms of boosting automation / productivity. From using a pencil you bought at Target to the drink you buy at the convenience store, you're doing the same thing, and they all involve some trade-off (most of which are entirely meaningless).