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by nemo44x 4132 days ago
I'm not sure. That's the job of art to reflect upon our culture to let people judge for themselves.

I find it brilliant, disgusting, tempting and shocking all at once. I'm not sure if it's a civilization in decline and on the eve of revolution or if it's a beautiful thing.

You don't get an emotional response from just saying "Pizza" and a price comes back and you reply with a "Yes/No" and then it arrives? Where is the service that says "Pizza" and "Yes/No" for me? Clearly that's the only place the form can go.

I guess it's the infantilization of society?
2 comments
maxerickson 4132 days ago
I tend not to order food, so the idea of making it easier didn't really resonate with me. I also tend to be a cheapo, so the idea of spending $4 extra also put me off. So my reaction to magic wasn't very strong.

I also don't really see the difference in values between buying flour and making obtaining a pizza really easy. Why is buying flour okay, or dealing with the details of ordering pizza yourself okay, but handing off the last little bit of the pizza ordering is reflective of decay?

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nemo44x 4132 days ago
"Why is buying flour okay, or dealing with the details of ordering pizza yourself okay, but handing off the last little bit of the pizza ordering is reflective of decay?"

I think it has to do with the fact that you surrendered choice in where this pizza comes from. You have no agency in the quality, labor conditions, ingredients, etc of the pizza. You have reduced your "freedom OF choice" to "freedom FROM choice".

Devo was right.

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prawn 4132 days ago
"Hey Magic, can I get two pizzas from (insert organic pizza place you like)? You choose the toppings."

If anything, having people within the blackbox means you might get a better choice rather than just the closest or cheapest choice.

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nemo44x 4132 days ago
I was sort of thinking the opposite here is more interesting. I just want to text to a blackbox:

"FOOD"

And a short time later food (possibly Soylent to keep the baby food aesthetic right) shows up. If I can do this while wearing a VR mask showing a strange new world with bigger people that talk, even better. I want to be an infant again.

Maybe they can add a feature where it can hear me shriek out and automate this process.

In your scenario the UX may be broken since Seamless can do this much faster I think?

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