Why so nervous about robots, Wal-Mart? via Engadget
Oh, this is just funny. An article on News.com mentions that Wal-mart seems to be investing in robotics... which then prompted the following interesting exchange:
As soon as I mentioned robots, Gallagher seemed eager to end the call. "We are not looking into robots in any way, shape or form," she said abruptly. I tried probing for more, but she had nothing further to offer.Not surprisingly, Wal-mart probably doesn't want to even imagine that they might not be the home-spun, friendly local employer, especially as of late. So the use of robots in place of humans probably won't go over well.
Which, of course, leads me to a very nasty thought. I say... go into your local Wal-mart and complain to the manager that you don't want Wal-mart to bring robots in to work at the place. Seriously. Walk into your local Wal-mart, and tell the manager you don't want them to bring robots in to work at Wal-mart.
What's the point? Assuming *anyone* pays attention to this, Wal-mart will then be in the odd position of promising not to use robots -- and then following up on this. Then, any use of robots at Wal-mart -- or any even partial use of robots -- will get Wal-mart bad press. I'm not a Wal-mart fan to say the least, and this is just one more way to be nasty to them. Petty, but fun. Posted by Ted Stevko at July 10, 2005 12:42 AM | TrackBack