I have seen the dystopian future of elderly care

thm 37 points 34 comments May 10, 2026
www.telegraph.co.uk · View on Hacker News

Discussion Highlights (8 comments)

thunderbong

https://archive.is/PSPZz

mrlonglong

Please stop paying any attention to the Torygraph / Reformgraph. It used to be good decades ago but now it just spews propaganda nowadays.

Apreche

Someone watched Roujin Z and thinks they are so smart.

mindslight

Is this headline a humblebrag about being able to afford a plane ticket to the US? Eldercare has been quite dystopian here for quite some time. You don't need robots to be dystopian, rather just the casual indifference of a paperclip-maximizing bureaucracy. I can't read the full article, but it seems like these robots at least move around and interact rather than merely being an automated process that automatically checks off boxes like "patient turned" and "bed cleaned". So they would appear to be a step up from the current absurd staffing ratios.

analog8374

Facebook can do a pretty good necro-avatar. That's better than flesh. Cheaper than a retirement home too. https://www.businessinsider.com/meta-granted-patent-for-ai-l...

KaiserPro

I'm assuming that they've not been to a "normal" UK carehome now. Its staffed with minimum wage workers who are in perilous conditions, with no support, time or backup. They are cleaning shit a piss all day long, and being shouted at for being foreign by the demented.

BoredPositron

Give me the freedom to end my life when I want to end it and you don't have to care about my care and I bet I am not the only one.

joefourier

Personally I feel like it would be less undignified and infantilising to have a machine take care of my basic bodily functions than a human being. There's no feeling of judgement or being shamed in front of someone else, and the machine could even restore a feeling of autonomy since it would feel like you're using a tool instead of being helplessly reliant on another person's help.

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