The year was 1920 and the 10th Duke of Marlborough (John Albert) came out of the bathroom perplexed. His toothbrush didn’t foam! The duke was unaware that his valet was the one who put toothpaste on the brush, and it is very easy to get used to automation . So much so that we don’t even notice it.
Most of us, when thinking about automation, have in mind robots building robots or cars driving autonomously . But do you think that automation is not part of your life? Watch out, because you’re in for a surprise.
Automation in domestic hygiene
John Albert’s concern was partially justified for the time. At the time the “automation” tasks were done by the servants, and the rich were a kind of relaxed person. Today everything is done by machines, and he worries us that the technology will fail . Like when the hot water thermos breaks, for example.
The only way to take a bath in Victorian times was to have several servants heat buckets of water and carry them upstairs to the bedroom to fill a basin set up for the occasion. There was no running water, no drains, and emptying required another few hours of bilge. Today we open the tap, unconcerned to the point that we are advised to turn it off .
We also have a hard time valuing soap or appliances. In 1850 there was still no detergent or washing machine. The clothes had to be left in soapy water or bleach for hours after pounding, boiled for more than an hour, rinsed by hand and wrung out with the help of rollers. More tender. Modern washing machines include drying and save us between 10 and 15 hours of cleaning per wash, just like that.
And the dishwasher is undoubtedly another strong point. In order for the crockery to be shiny before, they had to be washed (by hand), polished (ditto) and sharpened with leather smeared with abrasive powder made up of chalk, brick dust, saffron or deer horn. It was not a pleasant task. They were also greased to prevent them from rusting and were wrapped in paper when stored. Of course, to use them you had to wash them beforehand and dry them.
The nonchalance of knowing that things “go up”
We jump back into the comfort of the 21st century and realize that everything is in the cloud . We have become accustomed to taking a photo with the mobile and seeing it seconds later on the PC . But just a few years ago you had to take the picture, connect your phone or camera with a cable, and download it.
This automatic upload process occurs not only with images. Audios, videos, text documents, contacts, presentations, lists, etc. Everything is automated , and honestly it’s a relief.
Not that they offered much resistance, but you had to be aware of them and do the climbs manually.
Perhaps in a few years we will be as naively happy as the Duke of Marlborough. Modern Elois that we don’t even know how photos are uploaded to the server. Or what a server is , an essential element of our lives that curiously is very similar to servant in its etymology.
The automation of mobility
A few years ago —not too many— getting to our destination was not as comfortable as it is today. If there is anyone of my generation on the blog (1988) they probably remember how their early years of driving required road guides and memorization, or a co-driver . For us it was a short time.
Very shortly after, we all used more or less reliable browsers. And when the first cell phones replaced them, there was no need to memorize anything. Today planning the route does not require several hours of looking at roads or turning on the radio in case of accidents, but a few seconds. And it updates itself in case something happens. As we said, carefree. But also security.
Just launch the navigation app, select your destination, and drive. According to the study ‘ Smart Cities — What’s in it for citizens? ‘ (2018), by Intel, Automation derived from mobility technology saves us about 60 hours per year . Let’s also think about mobility without a vehicle, or public transport. And that the cars still do not drive for us .
The overall productivity
If anything has significantly changed automation around us, it has been computers. One of its most obvious analog versions, typewriters, required studies to access it. Writing or laying out a text was a titanic task from our perspective, although doing it by hand was even more laborious.
Today anyone can do it without knowledge. Wherever we look , devices with chips and screens help us automate processes , or simplify them. Online book lending no longer requires going to the library, we can book any trip without having to pick up the phone, and make purchases without leaving home.
We have internalized it so much that we do not even appreciate that before we had to go physically to the places, and we are not aware of the time saved for us . According to the aforementioned Intel study, smart cities alone will give each citizen back about three weeks a year.
60 hours in urban mobility (of which 19.4 hours for smart traffic lights), 21 hours in productivity, 9 hours in health services, etc. It is true that we are the new Duke of Marlborough and that we often do not know how technology works. But what we do know is how to take advantage of the time it gives us .