5 November 2023 by Mondo2.0

The lack of empathy of Amazon drones

Amazon will also test drone delivery in Italy. This news, predictable in my opinion, a consequence of our digital journey, has instead surprised and captured the attention of journalists, bloggers, industry experts and anyone else you can think of.

Predictable, from my point of view, for numerous reasons:

• The evolution of drones is evident to everyone; there has been a technological leap, and their use in warfare, for example, is as inappropriate as it is dramatically effective.

• Sending goods by drone, especially in small towns, is sustainable, reduces transport costs, reduces the risks associated with road transport, and consumes less energy.

• Once the initial testing phase has been overcome, sending goods by drone will most likely prove extremely fast, timely and economical.

• We all expect goods, whatever they may be, to arrive within very few days, preferably within hours. We are in a hurry, we are impatient, we want what we have purchased immediately; we are not interested in where it comes from, we are interested in having everything immediately.

• The user wants the greatest possible number of alternatives to choose from, wants to compare prices, save money. To achieve these conditions, they are also willing not to touch the object they are purchasing, provided that, as mentioned above, it arrives shortly at the specified address.

• The evolution of virtual spaces: the “metaverses” will allow immersive experiences in which we can touch or try the object of interest. But then the object, if purchased, must be packaged, shipped and received. The more shipping and arrival times are reduced, the more realistic the experience in the metaverse will seem to us.

It is no coincidence that Amazon aims to deliver 500 million products by drone by the end of the decade.

But the real motivation follows an anthropological and social path, and is characterized by three factors:

• over the last hundred years, the “chain” from production to sale first progressively increased and became more complicated, with the addition of intermediaries between producer and consumer, and then, very rapidly, in recent decades, it shrank again and was minimized.

Today Amazon is the “single” retailer; between the offer, the purchase and the arrival of the package there is only one click, one simple, single click to make.

There is the producer, there is the large online store, there will be the drone, and finally the consumer.

Fewer intermediaries, lower costs, higher revenues for the large online store.

• At the same time, the relationship between seller and buyer has lost, year after year, its social component. The small shop that accompanied the buyer in the selection, with courtesy and familiarity, where it was a pleasure to enter even for advice or simply to have a chat or gossip, seems light-years away. It became increasingly large, progressively impersonal, transformed into a supermarket, into a hypermarket, until reaching a global, virtual dimension, as with Amazon and Alibaba.

In my book, Ovunque Internet, I describe the Darwinian evolution of the process of marketing goods, placing emphasis on the only figure with whom we interact during the purchasing process, the courier who delivers the package to us; today the new experiment underway completes this “digital journey”, progressively excluding this professional figure as well, becoming completely impersonal.

The entire purchasing process, from selection to delivery of the package, is devoid of human contact, of empathy. Amazon drones will be effective, fast, sustainable, but they certainly will not be empathetic.

• During the pandemic we learned to stay comfortably at home, to isolate ourselves. To order and receive at home what interests us, to carefully consider our home–office travel.

Not only that, the increasingly frequent use of the Internet leads us to trust the Net more, the reviews on Social Networks and e-commerce platforms, the opinions and advice provided in chats. We have extended our network of friends, the number of our trusted contacts and at the same time reduced our travel.

In a context in which there is a significant reduction in physical contact, as mentioned, we are much more interested in receiving the package quickly than in interacting with someone during the purchase.

In a few words, we, today’s Web users, do not care at all that drones have little empathy; the important thing is to open the window, step out onto our balcony and receive our package as soon as possible.

What happens today is, as always happens in the social sphere, the result of a long process of collective change in habits, times, spaces and methods of communication. A process that began long before the invention of drones. This is why I believe there is nothing to be surprised about.

Does a sky clogged with drones await us?

Most likely yes, the latest generation of drones are fast, efficient in terms of consumption, able to reach the target precisely and return quickly.

Does a future await us in which our travel will be less frequent, more sustainable?

Most likely yes, we will spend a good part of our time at home, or rather we will go out for a specific purpose, not because of an obligation. A good part of our purchases, including basic necessities, will be made online, through simple digital transactions.

Who will be our advisers during or before a purchase?

At this stage, our social contacts and the approval ratings expressed by other users (or Bots). In the next phase, which is also just around the corner, we will interact with pleasant, kind and highly efficient assistants created through artificial intelligence, Bots ready to clarify every doubt and support us tirelessly.

We will appreciate the efficiency and speed of drones and the courtesy, friendliness and empathy of artificial intelligence programs (Bots) and, only when we feel like it, voluntarily, will we leave home to play sports or go to dinner with our friends.

What a strange, unpredictable mondoduepuntozero awaits us.

Mondoduepuntozero