Unexpected item in the bagging area – the rise of the machines.

In the cult film ‘TheTerminator’ the rise of machines is predicted – a computer system ‘skynet’ becomes self-aware and turns on humans. I personally think that day has come and gone.In the supermarket self-service checkout we often hear the message, ‘unexpected item in the bagging area’; yet what’s unexpected about tea bags and bottle of wine; I think you mean ‘unrecognised’. Now a cement mixer – that would be unexpected. However, I struggle with tea bags and wine – unexpected?

Have the machines taken over and we didn’t notice? Each day your phone wakes you up. If you ask nicely, it will tell you the weather –possibly helping you decide what to wear and if you need to rush because the trains are running late. As you leave the station, you scan your ticket and go to the ATM for some money. Or perhaps your Satnav is directing you to your first meeting. All day your computer, laptop, tablet and mobile, via email, twitter, instagram, vies for your attention, telling you what’s happening on the planet and prioritizing what’s urgent and (more scarily), what some algorithm has decided is important. Later that night you check your, phone one final time just to make sure the world is still there and turn on your sleep app so the next day it can tell you how well you slept.

However, here’s the problem: during your day as well as interacting with a vast number of machines, it’s hoped you have also interacted with some human beings: at the station, the sandwich shop, at work, at the supermarket when you paid for your shopping.

But, I worry every time I see someone only half engaged with a person while checking their phone – boarding the bus, sending a tweet, scrutinizing email, listening to music or just plain having a conversation. When did we stop acknowledging people and start treating them like machines? When did acknowledging another human being become obsolete or worse, optional? Yes, our use of machines increases daily in ways we never expected and in ways we may not even have noticed.

But, please remember: people are not machines, so please don’t treat them like one. Just remind yourself that if the machines truly take over, they might one day decide you can have the tea bags but not the wine (keeping us healthy!). But when the machine goes on strike and won’t process your transaction, a human being will tell the machine that tea bags and your bottle of wine are not unexpected – and that they are in fact completely expected items to be found in the bagging area!