[stcredzero]

I wonder if the "Eat People" idea is going to effectively get distorted by the majority in industrialized nations into a 21st century form of domestic servitude mediated by the Internet?

http://amzn.com/1591845424

I used to live in a big apartment building from 1870, with a 2nd set of servant's stairs in back and servant's quarters on the top floor. With the Internet, the granularity and other logistics of service are drastically changed, such that servants don't have to live with you or necessarily establish long term relationships. (Though these will still work better in many situations.)

Is the future going to consist of people in the service-sector taking care of the day to day needs of other people working in tech and automated manufacturing, with a fringe which has managed to "drop out" somehow?

If so, I hope we will have fixed access to health care for people not in successful companies with posh health plans.

[mikeash]

It's odd to think about what makes someone a "servant" and what is just providing a valuable service. Nobody makes these comments about contract programmers, for example, but what's the fundamental difference?

If you pay me to write you a program, that's just typical. If you pay me to come clean your bathrooms every day, that's more "servant". Paying me to deliver food is typical, paying me to come cook food using your own kitchen is not. Is there a real dividing line in there somewhere, or is it just a matter of societal norms?