Culture
The Rise of the Robots

The Rise of the Robots

Technology has been an overall benefit to humanity, raising living standards and creating more jobs than it has replaced. But with the coming robot revolution, that might be about to change. ...
John Larabell

San Francisco: the home of Haight-Ashbury, the Golden Gate Bridge, and Pier 39; an icon of neoliberalism and left-wing policies, homosexual activism, and countercultural movements. It’s also an incredibly expensive place to live that is becoming increasingly gentrified by young urban tech-sector workers. Now, a new revolution is coming to the City by the Bay: a fully automated “gourmet” fast-food restaurant opening at 680 Folsom Street in the SoMa neighborhood.

Yes, you read that right. Imagine walking into a “fast-food” restaurant and ordering a burger using a tablet at the counter. Your burger can have practically any combination of fresh toppings you want, a variety of seasonings, a nice toasted gourmet bun, and — get this — a custom blend of gourmet meat. Want beef and pork? No problem. How about beef and bison? Coming right up. You can even pick how lean or fatty you want the meat blend. No, this is not a fantasy: Momentum Machines of San Francisco has produced a burger-making machine that can crank out nearly 400 burgers per hour. It can do everything from grilling the patties, toasting the buns, loading on the toppings, and bagging the finished product all without human interaction. According to a Craigslist ad posted by the company, “This location will feature the world-premiere of our proprietary and remarkable new advances in technology that enable the automatic creation of impossibly delicious burgers at prices everyone can afford.” The ad states that burgers “will be fresh-ground and grilled to order, served on toasted brioche, and accented by an infinitely personalizable variety of fresh produce, seasonings, and sauces.”

According to a 2014 Huffington Post article, Momentum Machines “plans to sell its invention to restaurants and, eventually, open its own chain to sell gourmet burgers at fast-food prices by eliminating the cost of paying line cooks. This, the company’s website claims, will ‘democratize access to high quality food, making it available to the masses.’” “Our device isn’t meant to make employees more efficient,” Momentum co-founder Alexandros Vardakostas told the website Xconomy in 2012, “It’s meant to completely obviate them.”

This fantastic article is for subscribers only.
Login
Lost Password?

JBS Member or ShopJBS.org Customer?

Sign in with your ShopJBS.org account username and password or use that login to subscribe.

The New American Digital Subscription The New American Digital Subscription Subscribe Now
Use code SUB25 at check out
  • 24 Issues Per Year
  • Digital Edition Access
  • Exclusive Subscriber Content
  • Audio provided for all articles
  • Unlimited access to past issues
  • Cancel anytime.
  • Renews automatically
The New American Print+Digital Subscription The New American Print+Digital Subscription Subscribe Now
Use code SUB25 at check out
  • 24 Issues Per Year
  • Print edition delivery (USA)
    *Available Outside USA
  • Digital Edition Access
  • Exclusive Subscriber Content
  • Audio provided for all articles
  • Unlimited access to past issues
  • Cancel anytime.
  • Renews automatically