Professions

It is interesting to see how over time some professions disappear (the traditional hand labor) and others take their place (mainly in the service industry). Imagine somebody having worked at the counter giving our refunds for returned bottles in the grocery store. Just think about working there for years, knowing your customers by name, being part of the "grocery store community". Then one day they bring in the machines that sort the bottles and print receipts that allow your for a discount at the cashier. The person who worked at the counter is not needed any more. A machine has replaced him. Every day new machines seem to be taking jobs over from humans. I have to admit the washing machine is nice, I do not mind not having to wash the clothes in a river by hand. Machines are supposed to make our lives easier. To allow us to do other things that we otherwise would not have time for. But to what extent to they make us feel useless and superfluous and in the end just make us spend more time staring at the TV/PC screen and indeed be passive and superfluous in some respect?