Replacing Workers With Machines

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Some discussion of this has been had here on myLot over the last several weeks in reference to the idea of the minimum wage and a concept now circulating in Europe of a minimum income for all citizens regardless of whether their working or not. I've done some reading about this and it appears the impetus behind this is the replacement of workers with machines coupled with the lack of other employment available for those workers. These are not necessarily low skilled, minimum wage workers being affected. Many of them are manufacturing workers who've lost their jobs to robotics. Today, when my missus and I lunched at Olive Garden, I had cause to think about this issue. There was a Ziosk on our table, This Ziosk is a touch screen device that would allow us to order our drinks, appetizer, entrée, and dessert electronically. At the end of the meal, we could pay our bill by swiping a credit card through the Ziosk's card reader. The machine would then print out our receipt. Had we desired, our only human interaction would have been with the hostess who seated us and the servers who brought us our food and drink. However, we chose to place our orders with the delightful young person who came to our table to wait on us. The only thing we did via the Ziosk was pay the bill. This brings up a question. The Ziosk "suggested" a tip of 20% of the bill when we paid. Since we were waited on by a very competent and friendly server, I was more than happy to tip the 20%. However, had we ordered our drinks and food through the Ziosk, and had the server merely brought out the food, would the 20% tip have been too much. I feel it would have. What would have been a fair tip, then? 10%? 15%? If tipping is negatively impacted by the presence of such technological marvels as the Ziosk, employers will be required to pay their servers more if the tips don't bring them up to minimum wage. Will this force employers to employee fewer servers? With the Ziosks doing the work of taking the orders and settling the bill, it is obvious the restaurant will need fewer servers. What then of the servers who lose their jobs to the Ziosks? How do you feel about people in service jobs such as wait staff being replaced by technology such as the Ziosk? Do you see it as inevitable? Will the absence of a polite, friendly server diminish the dining experience? And, finally, do you think some of the money the restaurant saves should be paid as a tax to provide the workers replaced by the machines with a stipend until they can find or be retrained for other work?