Feedback learning and generalization in robotics takes a step forward.

Every economic system I can think of is built on the manipulation of human labor. From the slave economies of the ancient world to the feudal economies of the middle ages to the market economies of today.Your question doesn't just ask what happens to the cashiers, waiters, etc.; but it asks what happens to the entirety of the economy when its bedrock is removed. Indeed, what happens when human labor is no longer a commodity? When it becomes inessential? Isn't the current cost of a resource simply a matter of how much someone has to be paid to extract it? Do resources become free, then? And what does this mean for the people who own the resources when they no longer have to pay to exploit them?More importantly, though, what happens to all the people...... when the robots don't need us anymore?

The coolest part will be not having to deal with dirty, rude, underpaid, slow employees.We are beyond the days where good customer service really makes its mark. Customer service, as practiced by actual employees, is dead. The great experience of having a friendly face bring your food doesn't exist. There's nothing to hold on to; there's nothing the human labor is providing that a robot can't.Go to Wal-Mart. The cashiers twiddle their thumbs while the lines for the self-checkouts back up into the clothing section. And I am right there with them, because I'm not wasting my time with some dipshit cashier when a very pleasant machine can do the work for me instead.Jon

Location may have an impact on the service.In places where employees are paid minimum wage, tipping might be less, and the service offered less.But my opinion is: any service done for the hope of a tip is service not deserving a tip.

That isn't universally true; which is the point I was making. A tip is, by definition, extra, and various governments have banned employers from calculating the tip as part of their employees' wage and thus paying less than minimum wage.For some, the tip is actually extra (as it should be) and so is only earned (in my opinion) by especially good service.

Generalizing sometimes produces its own mistakes that a real person might not be likely to make. But this is an adjustable aspect of the robot's learning.The only drawback to service by a robot is that robots have no potential for prettiness

I'm not aware of many places that pay less than $7.25/hr. No; but I do feel it is the minimum. And I don't see a whole lot of difference between what the dishwasher does and the server does that justifies one making more money than the other. I tipically do. So are the dishwashers and cooks.

As I said in Message 31, things don't work in line with just the federal laws in all locales.In Minnesota, it is against the law to include tips in a calculation of minimum wage. Employers must pay the minimum wage to tipped employees.And this changes the dynamic quite a bit, because then there is nothing different about a server, a dishwasher, or a Wal-Mart cashier except that you apparently only think one of them is worth tipping regardless of the quality of service. I make $6.05/hr.Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

Perhaps. But like I said, where I live the notion of paying someone less than minimum wage on the premise that their tips will make up the difference is not only ridiculous but illegal.Servers make the same minimum wage that any other minimum wage employee at the same establishment would make. This isn't true everywhere, as I've repeatedly said.My attitudes toward tipping might be different if I lived elsewhere.Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

But the laws that are in place make it likely that most folk will earn the federal minimum. And how unfortunate for the cashiers who also have to feed babies with the same minimum wage but no tips.If you're such a great guy, why don't you tip everyone who makes minimum wage that is somehow or another involved in your acquisition of some good or service?

I don't think that would be legal in the U.S.: Tips in the U.S.

Good for you.

Ned was talking about another country. I find absolutely no fault in what he said; it is likely even true for where he lives. In other words, Ned was 100% correct. Lay off. Please show where I said Minnesota was "the standard that most states follow". Learn to read what I actually write, before trying to lay into me about some stupid nonsense that I've never said.Edited by Jon, : No reason given.

So...... fast food and all-you-can-eat buffets?