Recently I have been to Sainsbury’s for my weekly grocery, and I usually shop around, check prices and try to keep everything under my budget. I typically like people on the till who is always smiling and love small talks. After all, they are neighbours living locally and most of the time, familiar faces. I noticed they have been encouraging to use the app. I thought can we replace social interaction like small talks on the app and make it viable? Well, everything is feasible for the corporates where profit figures are only accountable. And social responsibility has just put aside. Innovation is good but what is good innovation?
I think good innovation should also cover long term social and economic growth of the domain which includes people surrounding it. In other words, it should be people-centric, not profit-centric. We thought that automation, AI and machines are better options, for-profit yes but for social growth, I doubt. Most people who work in operational and more tend to do the job for meeting their day to day earnings will be the most affected. As a result, it will create an imbalance in the ecosystem in the long term. I think good innovation should allow people to do their job better and more efficiently but should not replace them. It should be accessible to common and beneficial to all.
I think when we are adopting new technologies, our focus always on the positive side for the short term and often neglected for long-time effects. It considered for better future and where innovation should fill the gap. A good example would be where more people get a job and have a community built around it. I am not advocating manual labour, but I am talking about their welfare and growth using those innovations. I like some of those innovations which makes our day to day lifestyle better, affordable and accessible to all and not impacting on social growth. Yes, there might be slightly broader terms of affordability, which I think can be achieved by mass productions.
Well, who knows I might come up with some good innovation one day. Maybe someday.