Automatic

When I was a child, ATMs arrived at banks. The idea was to make it so fun and simple that they even installed one for children—they called it the Diver Caixer—so you could keep a savings account and deposit money, even 100-peseta coins, just like in a piggy bank on the street. And the ATM (which was a Sa Nostra brand) gave you trading cards, in addition to updating your passbook. It's also true that there was talk back then—in the mid-nineties—that ATMs would take jobs away from human bank tellers. But at the same time, people were already starting to talk about how the jobs lost in the banking sector (and there were mass early retirements in those years…) would be gained in the field of IT, which, obviously, was filled by younger generations.

Soon after, gas stations became automated, meaning you had to fill up your own tank, often with no one else around. Vending machines started to become part of our lives; at school, we even had one in the playground that sold us Quely cookies for our afternoon snack (we raided it once). Little by little, machines have taken the place of humans; at airports, customers used to buy their own tickets online, and when they arrived and wanted to check in, they had to do it themselves using a machine that printed a luggage tag, which they then attached to the carousel. The system took care of everything. If it were possible, even suitcases would be automatically loaded into the hold of the aircraft, instead of the police having to do it manually. But with the arrival of other forms of automation, machines are appearing everywhere; lately, in libraries, they're doing the work of librarians, at least when it comes to lending. Automatic coffee shops in airports; And now even hotels run by machines, when the guest arrives and has to check himself in, in front of a monitor that will give him the key to the room.

All of this involves code, websites, video surveillance, and users doing some of the work that professionals used to do. Machines that don't get sick, don't pay into social security, don't give warnings, don't complain if they have to work at night… But prices haven't exactly gone down for the end user or customer either. And all of this has happened without even considering the not-so-subtle invasion of Artificial Intelligence (AI), which, from what I understand, is also causing significant job losses in certain creative sectors and in logistics. A rather unsettling situation. Machines, algorithms, robotic arms, chips, and users who have to do it all themselves, without making the experience any happier or more satisfying. Not to mention the dependence that develops on these tools and the resulting loss of human skills, including social skills for customers, who can travel to the other side of the world—travel and stay—without having to talk to a stranger.