not_IOthat's it!
ch00fEnd users aren’t the customer.
No, I think there are fewer bakers.
They’re also smaller
Sundray
Peppycito
It is a grammar thing. You can have a lot less of a non-count noun, like sand. But you have to have fewer of countable nouns, like loaves of bread, or bakers of bread
They are wrong. This is a contested grammar rule that was based on one persons opinion in the late 1800s.
There are plently of examples where less and fewer are used interchangable.
Looks better though. I know it looks better because I grew up with the rule, but it does look better.
Non-countable? I think some vampires might disagree.
I also thought Thor relevant but I can’t find anything to support that.
Whether something is a. Punt or non-count noun is more convention than actual ability to be counted
You can use “less” when it’s a non-discrete plurality, such as water or sand (ignoring the technical fact that these can now be observed as discrete components below the macroscopic level) or money. It’s vastly more messy to have 1.78 bakers, and their families get really upset about it, so it’s safer just to use “fewer.”
mercBaking bread has gone from an everyday job employing a significant fraction of the workforce to more of an artistic job that only a few people do. Bakers don’t really compete with mass produced bimbos, instead they offer a premium product for people who are willing to pay more.
I think it’s always like that when technologies get replaced. There are still people offering horse-drawn carriage rides, but it’s a specialty service now instead of a common job. Same with many of the things you find on Etsy.
Jobs being replaced by automation wouldn’t be a bad thing if the benefits were shared with the whole population and there were a social safety net for people whose jobs were eliminated. Unfortunately, the benefits always go to the people at the top. Some theorists have proposed economic systems where there are no people at the top, or where things are shared much more fairly. It’s a sad fact that those systems seem incompatible with human nature as it stands. Country-sized experimentation with anarchism or communism still leads to people at the top who take a lot more than they give. Those systems seem to work fine in small communities where everyone knows each-other. But, not when they are implemented in countries containing millions of people.
The most effective systems right now seem to be mixed socialist / capitalist systems where unions are strong and willing to call major strikes and shut the country down. You still get “haves” and “have nots”, but the “have nots” still get a voice and aren’t completely trampled by the rich.
It’s a sad fact that those systems seem incompatible with human nature as it stands.
Eh, I’d say 20% human nature, 80% propaganda.
There is no one human nature, humans have a lot of different natures.
Greed is not inevitable.
TrackinDaKrakenI cleaned out my kitchen about a year ago and got rid of the bread machine that had sat, taking up space, unused for close to twenty years in a bottom cabinet.
So, no, AI is not going to take over every job, and the way it’s looking, the current iteration of “AI” isn’t going to take over many jobs at all.
Zachariahi tryed to make a power point with copilot, i even gave a template as pptx file. it was horrible. it can not even put words in a table in the pemplate.
For fun, I tried doing the same with a presentation I was thinking of doing for work. I work in a kindergarten, and I just… it’s like it was made by someone at McKinsey or something, every simple and plain sentence I had was drawn out into a glorious jargon-filled mess
I can’t find a baker who makes loaves of bread to save my life. Even living near a major city, it’s all pastry. I just want to support a local business and have delicious fresh bread.
dual_sport_dork 🐧🗡️My neighbor is an independent baker. He makes “regular” bread in various types in addition to pastries.
He closed his retail business during COVID and never reopened it. He reports that it is significantly less hassle to sell directly to local businesses (restaurants, delis, etc.) and their only consumer sales are now made at local farmer’s markets. Your local bakeries only sell pastries because they’re the only things that sell. The reason for this is broadly speaking that individual consumers are whiny and entitled shitheads, and “the grocery store has it cheaper.”
That’s interesting, there’s two bakeries with bread within walking distance from me. But they’re not square loaves, it’s sourdough and rodeo bread and challah and baguette and focaccia… And rolls, and yes pastries as well. Tbf, I live in Los Angeles so the unusual part isn’t variety, it’s the “walking.”
I know it’s not exactly what you’re saying, but a lot of grocery store bakeries bake loaves of bread.
lumpenproletariatI remember reading about how in Australia we bake dough made in Ireland. As somehow it’s cheaper to mass manufacture shitty dough and ship it across the globe.
I’ll stick to a traditional bakery’s bread over a supermarkets.
I just bake my own bread. It is healthier and with tastier flavor.
in germany bread baking is its own valuable branch of baking and it’s often treated with a lot of sincerity
Who’s baking disingenuously?
Grupo Bimbo Bakeries.
That’s odd, I live in a pretty small city and there are multiple local bakeries. I just wish there was one a little easier to walk to.
Which major city? I bake bread.
I used to have a naysayer coworker, and he was the most annoying shit. He’d always say things like, “In ten years, this building won’t even be here anymore.” Eventually, you just learn to say, “Okay, I’m just going to get back to work.”
peanuts4lifeThis is such a weird post. Is it satirical? Baking as a profession functionally does not exist anymore.
That’s fair, but we also get successful bread much more than half the time.
It’s kind of similar, I think. I mean most store bought bread is low quality compared to the artisinal product. Corporations don’t care if the product sucks so long as they can replace the worker.
The difference is that bread is a minimum viable product, while AI slop tends to eventually become descructive vs. productive.
Where do you live that has no bakeries?
I live in Fairly Large Town, USA, and the couple of bakeries here only make confectionaries like cakes and cupcakes. The closest you can get to buying a loaf of bread would be ordering a sandwich from a deli or store-made bread from a supermarket where they cook frozen dough from the regional supplier.
Maybe in your parts. Here in Germany, professional bread baking is still common.
This little machine is incredible. I disagree with OP’s premise, but this makes yummy little loaves.
I haven’t tried that particular model, but bread machines are, indeed, great. Instead of buying large loaves (which go bad in a few days) when I need bread I can just buy flour (which keeps for ages) and bake my own whenever I need it. The process of loading up the ingredients takes a few minutes but beyond that you can just hit a button and let it do its thing, and the resulting bread tastes better than what you’d get from a store.
Is it super loud, though? I had a bread machine years ago and I rarely used it because the noise was very unpleasant.
I love making bread. I’ve made a lot of bread. Bread takes hours. The best loaf of bread I’ve ever made I could have gotten for a few dollars at a store, and it would probably be better. Having said that bread makers are the closest thing to a food replicator you can get, throw some ingredients in, push a button, come back in a few hours and bam, fresh loaf of bread.
It’s likely cheaper and better when store bought because you’re trying to replicate the kind of bread that’s easily mass produced and greatly benefits from economy of scale. Lean doughs are so much less work, and they’re both cheaper and tastier when homemade. I’d even go as far as to say it’s less work than going to the grocery store to pick up a loaf.
Eh I’ve done all kinds and sure some are more basic and therefore easier and quicker than others but not by enough to matter in this case. You’re right that it’s all about the economy of scale issue, and they can duplicate success better than I can and I’ve been doing it for years.
Zos_KiaDidn’t you hear? Elon announced the total collapse of the baking industry within the next 6 months.
Classic Pump and dump. You’re better investing in the fermenting industry in the long term.