[iroddis]

This was a great read, and perfectly conveyed the combination of passion and anger of every WH player I’ve ever met has had.

Given the time, it’s hard not to view this same argument through the lens of AI. People who love crafting their creative works will still do it, even when AI can do it. They will still inspire others because they demonstrate what humans can do, and what we can aspire to.

[marcus_holmes]

This. As with all creative endeavours, part or even most of the enjoyment is the creative process, not the result.

Learning a skill and practicing it is still extremely enjoyable, even if a machine (or a factory) could do it better, faster, cheaper. The point is not the product, but the process.

[chr15m]

Great point. Also, nobody would go to a cafe where the coffee comes from a fully automated machine instead of a barista.

[Loughla]

Coffee vending machines have existed since the, what, 1950's maybe?

AI will fill a similar niche when it settles down, I think. Cheap, and mostly what you asked for, but you know you're not going to love the output.

[chr15m]

Yes, agree. Cafes and baristas still exist even though the are coffee vending machines.

[kleiba]

Unfortunately, I've been to many coffee shops where the coffee tasted much worse than what a modern fully automated machine can produce.

And perhaps you have to be more nuanced - when TV's first hit the market, a wide-spread concern among film-makers was that it would kill movie theaters. The fear was that people would now only watch movies in the comfort of their homes. That didn't happen back then, but it pretty much did with the combination of big, flat-screen TVs and streaming services.

[chr15m]

Why did you go to coffee shops even though the coffee tasted worse? That's my point.

[throw-12-16]

If you think people care about coffee quality you must never have been to a Starbucks.

[chr15m]

Not about quality. They want the experience of going to a cafe where the coffee is made and served by humans. These cafes exist along side automated coffee.

[qwerpy]

If it was 90% as good and 50% of the price (no tipping hopefully) I’d do it.

[bee_rider]

I don’t quite understand this comment, is it sarcastic? Drip coffee is already pretty automatic. Heck, I’ve been places where you just buy the cup and pump the coffee thingy yourself.

Compared to my home setup, (manual flair espresso press), most coffee shop espresso machines are quite a bit more automated. But I don’t begrudge them that automation, their arms would get too sore. And nobody is paying me to manually press my lever.

It doesn’t seem like a neat mapping.

[paradox460]

There are several robot cafes in major cities across the world

[chr15m]

There are orders of magnitude more cafes where humans make and serve the coffee.

[paradox460]

You said nobody. The presence of successful robotic coffee shops disproves that premise

[chr15m]

I mean "nobody" in the statistical sense. The number of people going to robot cafes is a rounding error compared with real cafe attendance. The fact that there are robot cafes and everybody (statistically speaking) is still going to cafes, proves the point exactly.

[aragilar]

Or you could just buy a machine and learn to make coffee?

[chr15m]

Yes. Yet people still go to cafes where humans make the coffee.