My limited understanding of the history was that during the patent medicine era, medicines had proprietary formulas and varying compositions. For example, many formulas had cannabis extract, others contained opium. The initial regulations therefore were done for medical purposes of drug purity. Edited to add, it wouldn’t surprise me if the overuse of opium in the patent medicine era led directly to judging the medical usefulness of these drugs, although it’s just a guess.
While it’s just a guess, pharmaceutical lobbying is likely why. None of that happened before the FDA was created sometime in the early 1900s.
Right now we’re in the political stages of considering the regulating of internet access to minors, the addictiveness of social media is not regulated.
And if a pharmaceutical or drug has addictive properties with no medical uses, the government outlaws it by scheduling it as having abuse potential. Seems like a big double standard.
Building codes should probably include Faraday-cage type shielding.
In the case of trash collection, the fine has been put in place by the trash-collection corporations. How that specifically may analogize to household-chore robots: I’m not sure. There are possibilities, but picking one among many and saying it will certainly be that one seems likely to be like gambling. Perhaps the robotic company requires you to sign an end-user agreement with lots of fine-print legalese.
I’m making what is called an analogy.
What reason would the governments have …?
The motive is money, but I didn’t say anything about governments, that was your interpretation, and I’ll admit it is a possibility. These robots are said to be AI, and I’d be very surprised if they don’t also have wireless communications of some kind, but to whom and whether those communications can be hacked are all unknowns.
In California, decades ago we used to be able to throw away our household trash in one container. Now we have 3 containers, and it’s recently become a fine-profit center: if folks don’t properly separate their recycling, greenery, and trash components, the AI-surveillance cameras mounted on the trucks will catch it and fine the subscriber (never mind that these trash-recycling-greenery containers are unlocked and on the street where anyone can open and toss something in). In similar fashion, if society adopts robots for household chores, how long until household inspections are held to fine people (as a profit center) who don’t keep their homes sufficiently neat?
Gonna need a basic income so that freed-up worker can focus.