[mc32]

I kind of agree with the author, but that ship sailed a long time ago. It's not coming back.

This reminds me of the (Hitachi?) thousand dollar rice cooker.

I guess you can argue for balance between craft and automation, but it's rather futile and more a nice mental exercise.

It's like trying to convince most kids to learn how to derive square roots longhand when they have a computing device in their pockets.

[pedalpete]

Which ship sailed? The one with all the people cooking? or another one.

I wouldn't count cooking as 'out' just yet. Many people of all ages love to cook, but many of them love the creation of it. An oven that cooks for you is like paint by numbers, it 'might' get people interested in cooking to the point where they want to learn more.

[mc32]

The ship that sailed is the one that says we must keep traditional systems alive and well in the modern world.

Yes, some people live cooking --as do I when I have the spare time, on the other hand, often I don't have the time to futz and just need a pragmatic meal, rather than experience based cooking.

[loader]

I regret buying a rice cooker. I already knew how to make rice in the pot. Now I have a device that sits on a shelf almost all of the time just to simplify 5 minutes of my life.

[ethanbond]

A crucial difference being that cooking is quite literally a matter of survival.