While you were sleeping

The entire nation has been filled with vitriolic hate.. should transgender men be permitted to use the lady’s room at Target. It has reached epic proportions.. store debates… politicians parade.. and not hundreds of thousands boycotting the store altogether.

Meanwhile, during the ultimate of diversions that has little consequence over the nation’s future, Target is doing something else which should potentially cause more consternation and debate than anything else..

Men may be using the lady’s room..but employees may soon be out of jobs altogether. The major impact of economic reality hitting Target like a target.

FORTUNE reported just 48 hours ago that the store is doing something to change its future and bottom. And it has nothing to do with culture wars..

Clerks told Fortune that Target is trying to assess how accurate the robot is at scanning shelves during this week-long trial run. One clerk reportedly said that the robot “seemed slow.”

Human nature being what it is is, I’m very worried about this lil’ robot as it traverses Target’s aisles. It looks like a moving target for mischief. One Racked editor wondered how long it would be before someone’s kid breaks it.

Another Racked editor said, “I want to put a hula skirt on that so bad it hurts.”

For as advanced as robotics seems, it is all in the infancy of evolution right now..

And while minimum wage workers across the United States band together in a non organized way to demand $15 per hour, there is something lurking beneath the rotten core of economic politics: The chances that so many of them wanting higher wages may soon have none. Replaced by tech.. done in by bots. And handy bots at that. Never getting an order wrong.. never stocking more on shelves than should be. People … are you buying? ?

MORE FROM FORTUNE:

The retail giant is conducting a one-week trial at one of its department stores in downtown San Francisco, according to a source familiar with the matter and confirmed by three store clerks.

Simbe Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup, built the robot called Tally that it says can roll autonomously around the store while scanning products to determine if they have been misplaced, mispriced, or are low in stock.

Just a test right now. But a test and threat–a threat of the inferior man. The threat of losing income.. While we argue about where a human should urinate, the carpet is being swept away.. slowly at first.. Quickly after.





And in a glance the future will change.
A future that is now.