28 Just ordinAry robots
became seen “as a factory that converted input (groceries) into out-
put (meals) by means of specic activities, technologies, and spatial
distances” (p. 137). In a similar vein, oces, airports, and cities were
dened in terms of ows that could be designed and mechanized in
an integrated manner. Weber discussed rationalization as a double-
edged phenomenon. On the one hand, it can have many benets,
such as broader access to cheaper products and services with con-
sistent quality. On the other hand, he was worried about the many
irrationalities of rational systems. For example, bureaucracies can
become inecient because of too many regulations. Weber was most
concerned about the so-called iron cage of rationality, the idea that
an emphasis on rationalization can reduce the freedom and choices
people have and lead to dehumanization.
Faith in rationalization implies that eciency, predictability, cal-
culability, and control through substituting technology for human
judgment present dominant cultural values (Ritzer, 1983). Please
note that in our information age, calculability is, most of the time,
about programmability, and control often relies on digital control by
means of algorithms. Rational systems aim for greater control over
the uncertainties of life, in particular over people, who present a major
source of uncertainty in social life. One way to limit the dependence
on people is to replace them with machines. After all, robots and
computers are easier to control than humans. We have witnessed this
rationalization process in the factory. Originally, craftsmen ruled the
production process. en, the work was divided into many simple
partial activities that could be performed by unskilled workers. is
far-reaching simplication and specialization of the work paved the
way for mechanization of various parts of the production process and
nally made it possible during the second half of the twentieth cen-
tury to automate and robotize such activities. Robotization thus pres-
ents a way to rationalize social practices and reduce their dependence
on people. As Ritzer (1983) argues: “With the coming of robots we
have reached the ultimate stage in the replacement of humans with
nonhuman technology” (p. 105).
As indicated earlier, this book is not about the use of robots in
the clean factory, but about its use in places crowded with “unpre-
dictable” people, such as the home, the city, or the battleeld. e
use of robots in these messy circumstances is only possible when