Trying to maximise earnings for shareholders killing local communities is bad economics and the beginning of a social experiment that will lead to violence.
From banks, pubs, local supermarkets, et cetera, there is a trend to eliminate humans to replace them with robots. Big companies ignore at their peril that local branches are inextricably linked to the local community that is only possible when there are local jobs.
Why do I still visit a certain area? Because I see a vibrant community. I don't visit a given area to be received by holes in the walls - the image created by shops that are no more and all is left is signs indicating that what used to be an integral part of the area is no more.
The more empty spaces the less the appeal to visit a certain area. Too many parts of London - and not just London - look like areas that have been hit by a tornado. It is reported that looting and shoplifting are going up. Well, rundown areas are a magnet for crime.
To me uncontrolled automation is the way to Hell. I do remember the Encyclical Rerum Novarum about the social importance of work. Robots do not create nor sustain local communities. People employed locally constitute local communities. When jobs disappear locally, communities disappear and entire areas become ghost towns. Haven't we learnt anything?
Why do people leave the areas where they live? The lack of a viable local economy. It has been happening across the United Kingdom. Suddenly, you end up with empty high streets and empty houses rotting away. Local infrastructure is wiped out. No banks, no post offices, no pubs, no schools, no healthcare, no jobs. There is no even a reason to have public transport because the number of those needing to use public transport has fallen dramatically and maintaining public transport is no longer a viable proposition. In far too many areas of Britain, schools are closing down. Why? There are not enough children.
Uncontrolled automation destroys local communities and once people leave a certain area and there is no one to use automation automation itself becomes redundant.
A visit to some local council headquarters is a clear image of what has been going on. Local authorities spent vast amounts of money in technology. In one hall alone there were more than 24 computer terminals, but there are only one or two people dealing with customers. So you have got 21 computers terminals that are seldom or never used.
Self-help kiosks installed in NHS hospitals have in most cases being withdrawn. The investment was made at huge expense. The idle pieces of equipment lie around creating confusion until they are finally removed.
Once again, uncontrolled automation does not solve problems. It creates problems and destroys lives.
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