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Comment by arwineap | Hacker News Reader

So they can monitor if something goes wrong, have a tech troubleshoot and deploy with the right parts.

Modern HVAC and fire control b systems for buildings are often connected now as well

You can do that while gapping the actual fridge function. Network connected temp probe and dumb fridge. These sort of systems are used in lab setting where its all dumb fridges and freezers, and very precious things inside.

Yes it was more of a rhetorical question, e.g. maybe we need to rethink that whole idea of plugging everything into the internet and instead go back to air-gapped "local area networks".

It also wouldn't be a big deal when a supermarket employee makes an old-fashioned phone call (gasp!) to the refrigerator service company when some red light starts blinking ;)

The trained and retained supermarket employees are gone. The refrigeration service engineer has been replaced by an AI chatbot. We can't scale to qualified people running complex systems on remote air-gapped networks.

The poor fellow, or gal, now has to endure AI bots while trying to call support on the phone.

While the app is beeping at them to pack more shelves, and they have already used up their only toilet break of the day to trying to stop the resourcing AI chatbot from putting them on triple shifts for the rest of the week.

It would be unfortunate if the red light starts blinking at midnight.

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