"How will an LLM change the bedpans in the nursing home?"
"Oh. Robots. Obviously."
"... So, you'd say the greatest obstacle to robot home assistance is... what? Software?"
"Ah. I see why you are skeptical. But you have not considered that the LLM will also design better robots."
"Really? That sounds amazing. Can we do it right now?"
"Two years."
"Oh."
"..."
"..."
"What do you mean. 'oh'?"
"Nothing. I'm... I'm so excited. For the robots. Like you said."
"You're mocking me."
"No. I would never."
Post
Replies:
6
Boosts:
7
I had a little note in my calendar because this conversation was two years ago.
@futurebird tangentially, i bet that any person who believes in developing fully robotized bedpan changers with the current technology never had to care for the bedridden people.
As someone who visits care homes regularly I really don’t see robots having much impact.
I also wonder how often they need repairing/charging/replacing over, say, a 40 year lifespan?
Let alone dealing with the emotional side of working in care homes, especially for those with the varying forms of dementia.
These jobs are the ones we should value way higher in society.
"These jobs are the ones we should value way higher in society."
Exactly. These jobs should pay more, and be among a collection of stable and respected jobs that people would aspire to getting.
There is still a little of this respect for nurses and doctors, but it's something we need to renew. These are positions with power and authority and you need to be a certain kind of person worthy of deeper trust to do them well.
It's not something you post on "fiver"
@futurebird It's so great that we've got all these helpful robots taking places in care homes now!
@darkling I was creeped out by our news showing a robot powered by an genAI chatbot "working" in a nursing home in Germany. My only big thought was: please let me get dementia *before* I have to talk with such an idiotic stochastic parrot to think I had a "friend".
Since then my idea is that my generation needs hacker communities in nursing homes.
