Kerby Anderson
What impact will robots and artificial intelligence have on jobs? In previous commentaries, I have discussed some of these questions and concerns. If you don’t want to be replaced by a robot, we are told, choose a service job, like cutting hair or serving food.
A recent article about fast-food robots dismantles that advice. Ryan Mills begins with a story of a restaurant providing high-quality, affordable Mediterranean dishes at a food truck park in San Francisco. It was created by three Stanford grad students. Each day, a small team prepares the ingredients. Then the robot takes over.
One review said: “The bad news: Artificial Intelligence is going to kill us. The good news: AI can sure serve up some tasty Mediterranean at a beautiful price.” The co-founder described their invention as what would happen if a vending machine and a restaurant had a baby.
There are many other examples. Sweetgreen (an LA salad chain) debuted its fully automated “Infinite Kitchen” at a restaurant in Illinois. Salad bowls move down a conveyor belt and the robot automatically portions out ingredients.
A CaliExpress burger joint has a robot that cooks burgers and fries. The kiosks, powered by artificial intelligence, allow customers to order and pay. Many believe this may be the first restaurant where all the cooking and ordering are fully automated. The inventor says the robots “don’t call in sick, they don’t get drunk the night before work and come in with a hangover.”
Other restaurants are experimenting with robots to deliver food. And robot bartenders and baristas are in the works. We will likely see more and more robots as states raise the minimum wage and labor costs increase.

Kerby Anderson
Jonathan Haidt has been on the Point of View radio talk show to discuss his previous book, The Coddling of the American Mind. He has now compiled his research in his new book: The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness.
He begins his book by having us imagine that a visionary billionaire wants to establish the first permanent human settlement on Mars and chose your ten-year-old daughter for the endeavor. You don’t give permission since there would be significant danger to your child (radiation and cellular damage, less gravity affecting bone density and growth).
But then imagine there is another company that doesn’t seem to know anything about child development nor care about child safety. This company doesn’t even require parental permission. All the child needs to do is check a box stating she has obtained parental permission. Then she can blast off to Mars.
His first chapter focuses on “The Surge of Suffering.” He explains that there was little sign of an impending mental issues crisis in the 2000s. But suddenly in the early 2010s, things changed due to smart phones and social media.
When his co-author and he finished writing The Coddling of the American Mind, they already had data through 2016. Teenagers agreed with the statement that they had experienced a long period of feeling “sad, empty, or depressed.” Something changed between 2010 and 2015, which is the period he calls “The Great Rewiring.” His book has graphs on the increase in major depression among teens, an increase in mental illness among college students, and an increase in anxiety prevalence by age.
He concludes that parents need to be involved, but we also need some government action and some responsibility from tech companies. This is a crisis that needs our attention.