If The Future Is Now, Where Are The Robots ?

When I was younger I dreamed of a time when I could roam around the moon in a buggy.
I'm sure I read somewhere (probably in  Look and Learn) that by the year 2010, robots would dominate the workplace, and automation would allow humans greater freedom and 'leisure' time.
Quality time, free from drudgery.
Hurrah, I thought.
The world will be such a great place when I grow up.

So...no flying cars either...

People, they lied.
THEY LIED.
Whoever they are (cue footage from Invasion of the Bodysnatchers).


Or perhaps they didn't lie, but are quietly making it happen, just very slowly...
Of course, the whole idea implies that there is cohesive global structure in place regarding work / life balance.
Which is a palpable nonsense.
Unless we really are the subjects of a New World Order ruling elite, who are probably alien lizards (cue footage from Invasion etc...)
So let's not go there...

Robotic Vacuum of the future (available now)

My point is that whilst we now have industrial mechanisation (certainly widespread in the automotive industry), where are the humans enjoying all those leisure pursuits instead of being engaged in dull, repetitive labour, hmm?
Are they writing blogs like this ?
Or watching endless videos of cats ?
Or logging into social media sites to see what everyone else is doing ?
Or having a life instead of writing blogs like this ?
You get my drift...


SPOILER ALERT: look at the diagram on the next link, or the following paragraph will be meaningless (more so than usual,anyway)...

Apparently the best countries for work / life balance  are Denmark,  Spain and the Netherlands, with Belgium and  Norway as close runners...
Unfortunately, I live in the U.K. which is number 23 on the list : all those other countries (often demonised in our tabloids) are ahead of us... the U.S.A . is even lower at 29 , with  Australia lurking down there, grafting away, and as for Japan :
Have a day off, guys !
Shocking stuff then.
Now don't forget this is a work/ life balance thing, so on the one hand you could say the hard working economies are in better shape than the others, but are they ?
Purely in terms of GDP, it seems to be the case - but then surely a better quality of life is an intangible variable which cannot be measured ?

Who are the OECD anyway ?
By the way, if you clicked that link, you got a scary looking energy statistic.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is based in France, has 2500 employees and has existed since 1961.
I got that from their home page.
They must have poor PA, because who ever heard of them ?
They certainly don't crop up in everyday conversation:
Did you see that awful statistic from the OECD ?
I know, terrible, isn't it.
Shouldn't be allowed
No, but then they are a neutral organisation who only exist to impart advice to businesses and governments based on ...
(Sounds of disgruntlement continue as our everyman stereotypes wander offstage)

My point is that regardless of work / life balance , we are sadly low on the domestic robotic front , unless you happen to own a Roomba™ , in which case, bully for you and all that, but I say where is all the leisure time we were promised ?