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[Skynet]

Seems simpler to just take a picture of your fridge with your phone and take that into the store TBH.

Now create an iPhone app that can automatically take pictures of my fridge and send me a text message of them whenever I need to go grocery shopping, show it off to venture capitalists, and you're well on your way to forming a multibillion-dollar startup.

[Gwolfski]

The slight problem with internet everything is that it is quite easy to hack into stuff.

[mainiac]

Right now some ingenious hacker could hack my phone and get my bank account info plus get the means to verify that they are in fact me.  Who gives a shit if they can get my grocery list?

[BorkBorkGoesTheCode]

I think the objection is that a government or corporation could use that data (assuming you don't use rewards programs, which makes it redundant) to track your movement and metabolism and whatever else cam be done with the data, and create a model to predict your actions. Of course your ISP may have that data already.

[alexandertnt]

I think the objection is that a government or corporation could use that data (assuming you don't use rewards programs, which makes it redundant) to track your movement and metabolism and whatever else cam be done with the data, and create a model to predict your actions. Of course your ISP may have that data already.

The government is not interested in your grocery shopping habits.

The grocery stores would be, but they already have pretty reliable ways of tracking that (e.g. like you said, reward cards). Who cares though? It's not exactly something IMO I would consider private.

Your ISP is not interested in your grocery shopping habits.

Right now some ingenious hacker could hack my phone and get my bank account info plus get the means to verify that they are in fact me

No they probably can't. Just because some people hack some software sometimes, doesn't make everything trivially hackable. You don't see the countless failed attempts at hacking some software when you see a news report of someone hacking some other software.

[Vilanat]

And yeah, the main advantages to internet-bound everything is that we can start relaying things together to provide benefits; your fridge tracks your inventory automatically, your oven/stove recommend recipes based on what you've made before and what you need to use out of your fridge, your car then reminds you of what you need as you start to approach the shopping mart, and so forth.

Seems simpler to just take a picture of your fridge with your phone and take that into the store TBH. I have no idea why your car would do any of that, it seems about the worst way to go about that (if you really wanted to automate that, just have the fridge send a list to your phone, so much simpler.). Likewise for the stove, google recipes on your phone, takes no time at all. Plus you don't have to worry about dealing with the half-baked (hurr hurr) shitty interface that the stove company will inevitably come up with.

I.e. at least to me, these specific examples just sound like automation/IoT devices for the hell of it, they don't really seem to be solving any particular problem most people have. To be honest, having your car remind you of what you need seems so... primitive-futuristic, like the kind of futurism you would see in something like the Jetsons.

And yeah, the main advantages to internet-bound everything is that we can start relaying things together to provide benefits; your fridge tracks your inventory automatically, your oven/stove recommend recipes based on what you've made before and what you need to use out of your fridge, your car then reminds you of what you need as you start to approach the shopping mart, and so forth.

Seems simpler to just take a picture of your fridge with your phone and take that into the store TBH. I have no idea why your car would do any of that, it seems about the worst way to go about that (if you really wanted to automate that, just have the fridge send a list to your phone, so much simpler.). Likewise for the stove, google recipes on your phone, takes no time at all. Plus you don't have to worry about dealing with the half-baked (hurr hurr) shitty interface that the stove company will inevitably come up with.

I.e. at least to me, these specific examples just sound like automation/IoT devices for the hell of it, they don't really seem to be solving any particular problem most people have. To be honest, having your car remind you of what you need seems so... primitive-futuristic, like the kind of futurism you would see in something like the Jetsons.

As opposed to the fridge taking pictures itself, transimitting the list of groceries needed to a store that then send it through a drone/automated car that then deliver it to your I-Battler 2.0 that arranges the groceries inside your fridge? not only that it will be simpler for us Human, it could also save us a lot of time and redundant commuting to the store.

And if you manage to teach your I-Battler 2.0 to also cook from those Google recipes you can achieve Royalty levels of comfort. as much as i sometimes enjoy cooking, it has become a chore that takes a lot of my/wife time. if i could get back from work and have a hot meal ready for us, that is something i'd be willing to pay a premium on grocery prices and for the I-Battler 2.0 itself.

[alexandertnt]

Yes, because if there is one thing grocery companies are concerned with, its making the shopping experience as quick and efficient as possible. They are the same companies that go out of their way to put common items far apart so you have to travel farther. They want you to buy more than you need, and to make impulse purchase, desirable behaviours your system does not encourage. Your trying to remove the human element when that's exactly what these companies depend upon.

Our economic system values consumption, not efficiency.

As opposed to the fridge taking pictures itself

Automating something that takes mere seconds has no benefit IMO. Especially when it involves integrating, setting up, tinkering to get it working with your Wi-Fi configuration etc.

drone/automated car

Home delivery is already a thing. Use that. I don't see how removing the driver makes anything easier for you. The argument in favour of automated delivery is usually an economic one, but you have already stated you would be willing to pay a premium.

that arranges the groceries inside your fridge

You put the groceries inside your fridge. This is not hard nor time consuming. There are many things that could be automated to great effect - this is not one of them.

not only that it will be simpler for us Human

These systems need to be manufactured, are going to crash, misinterpret what you want, require maintenance, setup, upgrades etc. Overall I don't imagine that that would take a whole lot of time or effort, but when you are replacing something that also already doesn't take a whole lot of time or effort with this, it just doesn't seem to have much net benefit. It just seems like your replacing one slight pain in the ass with another.

I don't think automated cooking is a bad idea. Out of the activities you mentioned, it is probably the most time consuming, and is certainly a more substantial thing to automate than merely looking up recipes. I imagine it would take another form though, perhaps some high-quality instant meal you could just microwave/dehydrate or something.

I think automated cars have a place, especially when e.g. it comes to commuting to and from work. This could free up a decent chunk of time for some people. Delivery vehicles tend to visit multiple places with one driver, so I don't see automated delivery vehicles being much more efficient than what we have in that context.

[Starver]

https://xkcd.com/974/
https://xkcd.com/1205/
https://xkcd.com/1319/

Food for thought.
# Food for thought needs restocking. Would you like to re-order? [Yes/No/Surprise me/Global Thermonuclear War] #

[TempAcc]

ITT: automated fridge selfies

[Vilanat]

Our economic system values consumption, not efficiency.

The rapid rise of online shopping seems to suggest efficiency is still a big factor and if there was a system that enable your fridge to always be full without any physical intervention on a human side besides clicking on stuff on an App on a weekly basis, that fridge will sell and the stores that fill that fridge will sell. if it could also cook your dinner then its sales would sky rocket, because it's not just taking picture of a fridge, it's remembering to take a picture of your fridge (which is inconvenient since often times you go shopping before going back home from work), going to a store, or alternatively shopping online and it's going back from the store or alternatively, waiting for a delivery guy that always seems to come at the wrong times. and it doesn't even contradicts the current impulse driven stores arrangements since stores could just say "Hey, we noticed you like Beans, here's a Chilli Con Carne recipe and all the ingredients in it are now at 25% off.", "That Gouda goes really well with a glass of red wine on the side, which has a 1+1 promotion". i am going to take an educated guess here: most households eat basic, recurring dinners on work days and put the extra effort only on weekends (If they aren't totally lazy and order a take out). a system which puts a hot meal at your table just as you walk in will diversify dinners and hence grocery items, which would drive up impulse sales of ingredients.

For me, grocery shopping is a chore and a time waster. if something can make that redundant, i'll use it.

Obviously it would have technical difficulties at first (That Internet Pet feeding machine that stopped feeding pets because their servers crashed comes to mind) and people could hack it, but in the long run, whether we like it or not, this is going to be a thing and it's going to be extremely popular.

[alexandertnt]

The rapid rise of online shopping seems to suggest efficiency is still a big factor

Online shopping still requires you to navigate through the virtual store while bombarding you with specials etc. It's the same thing.

if there was a system that enable your fridge to always be full without any physical intervention on a human side ... that fridge will sell

I have already stated how I seriously doubt that this is something which is of a concern to most people.

clicking on stuff on an App on a weekly basis

Until it needs updating, but then it only works on the newer version of Android, so you update your phone to that. Then one of the apps you use breaks with it and you spend the next couple of hours fixing that.

it's remembering to take a picture of your fridge

Use Calendar if you really forget this? Alarm? Solutions to this problem already exist. You just replaced pushing the camera button with pushing the app button. Same thing, really.

a delivery guy that always seems to come at the wrong times

These systems are built, programmed, maintained, and administered by humans. I doubt that throwing drones at this problem will make it go away.

Hey, we noticed you like Beans, here's a Chilli Con Carne recipe and all the ingredients in it are now at 25% off

Oh good, now I have adverts on my phone I need to deal with and dismiss. This is really starting to sound like a bigger pain in the ass than just doing it myself.

I would seriously doubt the effectiveness of advertisements, at this point, most people have been conditioned to dismiss and ignore advertisements on their phones. The main income for apps tend to IAP's.

a system which puts a hot meal at your table just as you walk in

We have that, its called a microwave oven, takes only a few minutes.

technical difficulties at first

Technical difficulties are likely to be ongoing.

[Reelya]

Agree, a system that "puts a hot meal on your table just as you walk in" could actually be really annoying. Say I was late or ate out, does the food just go bad or get dumped? We have takeaway places for the need of quick fix meals, we really don't need home robotics to solve the "problem" of "don't feel like cooking".

Choices don't exist in a vacuum. While this home-robotics thing is improving, so will commercial food robotics, and they are likely to be ahead of the curve on this. Economies of scale. e.g. those burger robots who make 400 burgers an hour. A home-robotics system is unlikely to be able to compete with that. There are already takeout choices that are far cheaper than DIY cooking, e.g. $5 large pizzas at dominos. I doubt I could work out the home ingredients for a $5 pizza like theirs.

The problem may be that we're applying an old paradigm and just high-teching it. We are making the same mistakes about The Future as The Jetsons did. Rather than have a super-fridge which tracks supplies, and has an army of robots to keep it stocked and make meals, with drone-deliveries of bulk raw materials, why wouldn't people dispense with the large fridge altogether, thus saving on energy and costs, and get individual meals drone-delivered?

[alexandertnt]

Yeah, I still can't believe the quality and the price I can get pizza delivered to my door. I could do cheaper if I did it myself, but not by much.

[mainiac]

why wouldn't people dispense with the large fridge altogether, thus saving on energy and costs, and get individual meals drone-delivered?

That does sound like a disruptive technology that could succeed.  No need for a replicator when you can just order in.  However we seem to be extremely resistant towards automating the cooking process for meals.  A restaurant kitchen is basically unchanged since 100 years ago.  This is despite quite a bit of automation in the food that ends up on the shelves at the grocery store.

[BorkBorkGoesTheCode]

Social question: What happens to the wait-staff after they're replaced by mechanization?