[krschultz]

Forget the actual thesis of the post. I am immensely troubled by the flippant comment "ordinary municipal water fountains are replaced by hi-tech fountains, providing clean water for residents, ... and less of the dirt and homelessness often associated with water fountains".

So reducing access to free drinking water for homeless people is a feature? Maybe the real problem here is that municipal water fountains need to be improved, not that they should be discarded in favor of a private network.

[phpnode]

agree about that sentence, really that's horrible. Replacing free water fountains with a private, paid alternative? The product itself is like a glimpse into some weird dystopia.

[ultrasandwich]

Ditto. I thought this sentence was a cruel joke with no punchline.

[madaxe_again]

This is an Israeli company. It's not about homeless folks per se, but about Palestinians.

[001sky]

Devil's advocate:

(1) When things are dirty, the only people that will use them are those with no alternatives. And equally repugnant and racist phenomenon is found in inner citie schools ("the only people that will use them are those with no alternatives"). Except many of those people are black, not homeless.

(2) Dystopia is basically the theme of the piece. Its not clear if this was simply so flippant, or merely subliminal reminder of manipulation by second and third-order effects.

[furyg3]

I feel like we're still thinking too small; the real problem is homelessness.