Japan's Vending Machines Modern Convenience and Social Commentary

When I found out that Japan has offered via vending machine things I ordinarily might find in a store or have to order delivered, I was suspicious!

I thought it meant to cast a spell of psychological deprivation on the psyche of unsuspecting citizens. What I soon realized though is that there is something of a culture there toward modern convenience being accepted and socialized to the citizen as an acceptable thing.

Some places though we might feel a twinge of guilt to partake in something that is by its nature very convenient or much more cost incentive and much easier than the alternate.

One similar thing I learned is about AI, Chat GPT, and customer service by telephone; we can easily replace one with the other with a massive profit gain. Is that ethical? The workforce would be effectively replaced.

At one major e-commerce company, the percentage of its income paid to payroll for customer service was .33 or 33%. To code the GPT to replace that at a minuscule fragment of a fraction of the cost would take 10 minutes.

And we could begin coding it into printers with scanners to replace Accounts Payable.

Where does convenience run into ethics? I think there is a haiku there somewhere.

But in Japan it's part of the deal. You get to train yourself to accept modern convenience. Initially I thought it was commentary on laziness and a veiled ambition to introduce youth to decision processes that would incorporate a spiritual aspect that would make such options clearer to their conscience.

I think we can learn something about efficiency rather than combat laziness. This is perhaps a more efficient way to evaluate convenience without guilt.