people letter
Rise of the robots and all the lonely people Letters
Two connected stories in Monday's Guardian: Tom Watson asks us to "embrace an android" while Rachel Reeves describes society's sixth giant evil as a "crisis of loneliness". Replacing people with machines decreases opportunities for social interactions helping many feel integrated. Self-service in shops, libraries, banks and other places means people can go all day without conversation with a "real" person. It is set to worsen, to the detriment of contact and service quality. It is no coincidence that Lidl, the fastest-growing supermarket, resisted moves to self-service tills until recently.