← Back to context

Comment by RataNova

1 day ago

There's always going to be a market for things that feel personal, intentional, and imperfect in a way that only human creators can deliver

Like there's market for hand-made, artisanal spoons and forks.

Is it a large market though?

  • It'd be larger if wealth inequality werent so staggeringly high.

    The first automated-server restaurants (Horn and hardart) appeared in the 1930s during the depression. They were popular because they were cheap.

    Far from being the wave of the future, they went out of business in the 1950s when people started having disposable income.

    Part of the reason we accept slop, impersonal service and mass produced crud is not because "demand" is indifferent to it, but because disposable income is so often politically repressed, meaning the market is forced to prioritize price.