I am sitting in a stall, in a public bathroom in my office, minding my own business. I don't know about you, but I have a little bit of an aversion to making noises when other people are in the bathroom. I'm embarassed by my own body. So I general hush up when someone enters the bathroom until they leave. You know you do it too. And of course, there are certain things you expect to hear, like peeing sounds, flush sounds, and faucet sounds. You aren't supposed to talk in the bathroom. Certainly not when the bathroom is empty except a guy in the stall who is trying hard not to make any noise.
Anyway, I was minding my own business when a guy walks into the bathroom. I listened silently from my stall:
"The thing you always need is a light bulb changer."
"And a sweeper."
"You always gotta have a sweeper."
"I'm looking for them to... uhhhhh... automate that."
"If you don't see-- I bet by 2012 or 2021 you see all that stuff, everything automated."
"All of it, automated."
"There won't be no jobs."
"I mean, uhh, look at, look at..."
Grunts and begins tinkling
"...look at Kroger's, the self service. Self Service. And the gas stations."
"All those places, like Swifty's and <grunt> Krogers. The scanners. All automated."
"All automated."
"Robots."
"Robots."
"Robots."
"All automated."
Exits.
That, my friends, is the light bulb changer's view of technology: Robots, robots, robots. The next time you develop a ground-breaking technology, just remember you have brought us one step closer to that faithful day on 2012 (or 2021) when all that stuff is automated.