How technology is slowly crippling us through automation

Nothing is safe from the international safety police. After the incandescent bulb was declared res non grata in many countries, Vancouver’s concerned legislators have outlawed the old fashioned round doorknob, as the “elderly, infirm and disabled” find them difficult to use.

Doubtless other similarly compassionate cities in Canada and around the world will follow suit, never mind the matter of allowing aesthetic diversity and choice.

Lever handle manufacturers will obviously have cause for cheer as the same legislation endorses their product as the suitable alternative, but the additional suggestion of eventually having only automatic doors bodes ill for all manner of current accessories that need manual operation.

There is no telling which common hand-operated items — from locks to faucets — will suddenly find themselves earmarked for automation or extinction. Looking at what motorised vehicles have done for perambulation or appliances have done for kitchen callisthenics, it seems as if technology and safety concerns are conspiring to lull humankind into using their limbs as little as possible.

Total bans on any items that are not clearly injurious to health and well-being are hardly worth the effort. Such proscriptions merely give a handle to those who want to control the levers of choice.