There's the drop off at the Newark United Terminal No. 3. From there one has a choice to approach the counter where a human being will assist one with check in. But utilizing the more robotic "kiosks" are strongly encouraged. All one has to do is present the machine with one's passport and it automatically spits out one's boarding pass.
From there one makes one's way to security, which still uses real flesh and bone TSA, although these people are being phased out as new x-ray tech becomes the new norm.
Once security is completed, today's modern day traveler can enjoy oneself at any one of the many bistros and restaurants that fill the terminal. Only, a human being doesn't take one's order. An iPad does. Sure, a person delivers one's food, but perhaps this is only a temporary measure in what's still considered a beta automated food service system. When paying for one's food and drink, one uses a debit/credit card that is attached to an online banking service because after all, one enjoys direct deposit.
Then it comes time to fly. Pilots are at the helm, but the computer flies the plane from take-off to landing. From what the author is told, today's pilot is required to land a plane manually every 20 or so landings to stay sharp. This is disconcerting.
Used to be a time when upon landing after a long haul transatlantic flight, the passengers would clap. It was heartwarming display of collective humanity. No one claps anymore. One immediately turns on one's smartphone instead.
One enters into the airport and another robotic kiosk scans one's passport. It's a silent, if not nerve racking process. What if the robot doesn't recognize the traveler? Is said traveler then turned away by a machine?
But once accepted by the robot (one is literally given a green or red light), the human being manning the immigration counter is a welcome sight. One wishes him or her a good morning and does so with a smile. But one receives only stoic, stone-faced silence in return. Perhaps the immigration personnel are not human after all.
One takes the taxi into the city. Not much is said between driver and passenger since the former is concentrating on GPS (soon the taxi will be driverless) and the latter on one's email. Once the traveler arrives at the hotel, automated check-in is an option. One chooses to do it the old fashioned way--by consulting with a concierge.
One gets right to work, typing out a piece about a new existentialism. It's writing that won't be passed on to an editor, or to publisher, or to a graphic arts department. It will be published on one's own blog site. The income derived will be indirect and passive.
One writes the many chapters that make up a new novel. One has a choice here. It's all about one's idea of controlling one's own destiny. One can bypass human beings altogether and edit the book via an editing program like Grammarly Chrome. One can choose cover art online. One can auto upload the book onto the KDP platform or D2D, which will automatically format the book. One can then advertise and promote the book with online social media ad services (the author, who is a hybrid, chooses to work with publishers, and real editors and artists. It's all about individual choice).
If there is any hope for the book selling well, it no longer has anything to do with (human) word of mouth, but instead, a generous automated push by the algorithmic gods. In other words, when it comes to post-post modern day publishing, human beings need not apply (there's that turn of phrase again).
There's nearly 7 billion people on planet earth as of this writing. Each and everyone of them connected not by human sensory perception, but by wires, circuits, applications, programming, and artificial intelligence.
It's a time of new existentialism.
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This is quite frightening, and a lot worse than the self checkouts at the grocery store, which is, of course, to get rid of human clerks.
ReplyDeleteI almost wrote about those too, Rachelle!
ReplyDelete