Here’s a new bachata-beat single out from La Doña, ready to help you move your booty and get down on the system. In her words, “Superficially, it’s about making money and doing mushrooms but the message behind it is an exploration of how we function under capitalism. How do you spend your money? How do you rationalize still working in such a violent and crooked system? And then how do you heal from that and what kind of medicine do you use? It’s how I feel on the daily. I work hard and I save but it’ll never be enough. Although I’ve completed my main goal in life, which was to buy a house, I’m still working multiple jobs and 60-plus-hour weeks, juggling so much. When does that ever end?” Snaps. Listen here.
It seems like human history consists of a cycle of outsourcing labor and then freaking out that that labor will replace us. According to Wired, that’s just cause we’re thinking about it wrong. Despite all the terrifying possibilities, this piece says, robots aren’t here to take over for humans; we should think of them like worker animals instead. I’m sure this puts everyone in coal country at ease.
Let me introduce you to this robot that is certainly not out to replace YOU, human who mows the lawn, but perhaps the cow that might have kept your grass shorn in simpler times. The Automower, which you might also view as an outdoor Roomba or a tiny batmobile, is designed to run in the background all the time, continuously cutting off microscopic amounts so your grass never grows higher than picture-perfect. But at the price of $1,400-$3,300, you really could have a cow, and those also give you milk (in addition to more cows). Something to think about.
If you’re too busy to mow the lawn, you certainly don’t have time for such frivolous things as observing your bird feeder. Enter: the Bird Buddy, a machine that watches the birds for you. Rather than looking out the window to marvel at the wonders of nature within reach, let the Amazon Ring of the natural world surveil your yard and send you a phone notification when a bird arrives. And no need to go rushing out to see; your robot friend will have already have snapped a pic for you, which you can of course view on your phone screen at any time. The Bird Buddy also removes human brain power from bird identification, letting you know what you’ve “seen” and awarding you special badges when “unlock” new species. Imagine: digital animals that help you AVOID animals. The best.
