| Why does everything have to be as cost effective as possile? I'd much rather have robots in my kitchen and my garden that grow fresh vegetables on my soil, adapted to my preferences, and turn them into dishes that match my taste,
than the end-product of a ginormous industrial farming machine. 60-70% of the worlds food supply comes from family farmers,
yet most pesticide and fertiliser usage is in industrial farming.
Factory farming is only cheaper because artificial fertiliser is so cheap, but if you look at the "costs" on the entire system/ecosystem it's a lot more expensive. If you only view food as a source of nutrition and energy, then this might seem reasonable, but it completely ignores the socio-cultural aspects of cooking. Having a robot in your kitchen allows you to share in the work, to learn from it, and teach it.
Maybe you cut the tomatoes while it peels the onions.
Or you start cooking, and it finishes for you.
Maybe you cook your lunch, but because you want to wake to the smell of freshly baked croissant, the robot does it. There is an infinite spectrum of interaction, learning, and joy that could come from this, that goes beyond merely eating the prepared dish. Maybe small restaurants in the style of old Japanese eating houses combined with community gardens would be a good middle ground though, but having industrial take-out everyday sounds like a dystopia to me. |