Ariane Sherine laments the age of the machines in The Guardian. "When, last week, I asked a bus driver, 'Please can you tell me when we get to the hospital?' he replied gruffly, 'The bus will tell you. It speaks.'" The number of automated checkout machines at her local supermarket has quadrupled, from 4 to 17, "taking our jobs", while touchscreens in doctors surgeries are an ideal virus spreading mechanism. While technology is often seen as synonymous with progress, Sherine has some advice that may appeal to those of a human-centred bent: "progress doesn't mean replacing people with machines that copy us badly and rule out friendly human interactions, smiles, apologies and kindness...Progress, in this area, would be programming machines to do the things human beings can't or won't do". While us ergonomists may have some particularly practical uses in mind, Sherine suggests more novel uses for automated PA systems on public transport that dispense unspeakable social truths: "For the comfort of fellow passengers, will the man in the blue shirt please apply deodorant or alight at the next stop?", or "Don't just sit there like a lemon – stand up for the old man/pregnant woman!". Designers could even pit technology against itself: "Will the young man ostentatiously flaunting his new iPhone please put the bloody thing away – it isn't impressing anybody". Food for thought. Source: Guardian, 19 July 2009. tinyurl.com/lx9vee 25 August 2009
Rage against the machines
Ariane Sherine laments the age of the machines in The Guardian. "When, last week, I asked a bus driver, 'Please can you tell me when we get to the hospital?' he replied gruffly, 'The bus will tell you. It speaks.'" The number of automated checkout machines at her local supermarket has quadrupled, from 4 to 17, "taking our jobs", while touchscreens in doctors surgeries are an ideal virus spreading mechanism. While technology is often seen as synonymous with progress, Sherine has some advice that may appeal to those of a human-centred bent: "progress doesn't mean replacing people with machines that copy us badly and rule out friendly human interactions, smiles, apologies and kindness...Progress, in this area, would be programming machines to do the things human beings can't or won't do". While us ergonomists may have some particularly practical uses in mind, Sherine suggests more novel uses for automated PA systems on public transport that dispense unspeakable social truths: "For the comfort of fellow passengers, will the man in the blue shirt please apply deodorant or alight at the next stop?", or "Don't just sit there like a lemon – stand up for the old man/pregnant woman!". Designers could even pit technology against itself: "Will the young man ostentatiously flaunting his new iPhone please put the bloody thing away – it isn't impressing anybody". Food for thought. Source: Guardian, 19 July 2009. tinyurl.com/lx9vee 
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I understand the rage. It longer now to get customer service on the phone because of voice activated help. Computers are however here to stay and have become indispensable. However there are huge consequences of this, especially to our health and feeling of well being and self worth as computers have taken over. There is a book - Lessons I Learned the Hard Way that addresses the healh consequences. Learn more at the book website http://www.strategicbookpublishing.com/LessonsILearnedtheHardWay.html.
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