My great-grandmother was dead set against using a mop to clean the floor — until her knees went on strike. My grandmother had the same attitude toward washing machines. She thought she did a better job by hand. And it took a long time for us to convince my mother that dishwashers save a lot of water compared to hand-washing dishes — and, more importantly, save time.

My family has been slow to adapt. I call that evolution. Not the kind where someone doesn’t have wisdom teeth, but adaptation to the environment. Evolution is what we do to avoid chores. And it's relentless. Of course, we could do without mops, washing machines, dishwashers — even phones — at least in theory. But, honestly, the last time the power went out I felt like a fish on the pavement. The disorientation lasted a week. Evolution isn’t good or bad, it’s just inevitable.

So what about me?

I used to dislike AI. But apparently it doesn’t care. Now I’m just waiting for it to do my laundry. In the meantime, I’ve drilled it with all kinds of questions, so much so that now it seems to dislike me. Still, I try not to offend it, even though it gets on my nerves so bad that I catch myself looking for a softener compartment that isn't there. Surviving the perennial argument about whether the forks are clean enough feels unbearable as well. Not to mention how jealous she gets when hearing the Roomba scooting around the house.

Anyway, I love all my appliances. It’s hard to picture life without them.