I've always held the following philosophy when it comes to purchasing maid services to clean my house: "If I need to hire other people to clean my home, then my house is too large or I'm lazy."
But purchasing a robot to clean my floors?
Now that's just plain creepy.
iRobot Corporation has sold over 1 million robotic vacuum cleaners and floor scrubbers. And the first robot (representing iRobot, of course) became the first droid to ring the Nasdaq opening bell yesterday. Unfortunately, Will Smith wasn't there to join the thingamabob for the bell ringing ceremony.
Frankly, this whole robotic thing frightens me. Technology has advanced over the years and, as a result, has eliminated humans from performing certain functions. Automated answering services have replaced human operators. EZ-Pass is the bane of former toll collectors everywhere. And thousands of ticket takers at movie theatres have Moviefone voodoo dolls tucked under their pillows.
So if the evolution of technology—spearheaded by humans to essentially replace humans—has wiped out thousands of jobs before the Dawn of the Droids, what will the robots be doing 30 years from now?
Hopefully it won’t involve writing press releases and pitching The New York Times.
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