McKinsey is coming down on the "ATM machines didn't get rid of bank tellers, in fact there are now MORE bank tellers" side of the automation argument. It's telling that they used retail sales as the example because sales is literally and figuratively about "high-touch". I was reading an article recently about Estee Lauder, whose eponymous company now controls a massive amount of the entire retail cosmetics industry... her empire without exaggeration rests upon her realization that skin-to-skin contact is what sells cosmetics. No amount of spending on advertising has been shown to replicate the sales results of another woman applying face cream or giving you a makeover. Can a robot do any of that?

Not that I know of.

Even driving a bus, which many tech people think is the best use of automated vehicles... I always wonder if these pundits have actually taken a city bus recently? Most of what the driver seems to do is handle questions from drunk/high, mentally ill, confused, elderly, non-English speaking riders. Oh and people who don't have quite enough change to ride the bus. It is actually pretty high-touch! You could only believe otherwise if you don't ride them and think it's just unionized featherbedders who provide no value.

You're right! That job is less automatable than it would seem on casual consideration.

Wow.

i still want to see a robot apply makeup

It's messy:

More:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3028676/Would-let-robot-make-New-machines-use-motorised-arms-apply-eyeliner-lipstick-messy-results.html

Finalist at TechCrunch Disrupt : nail painting robot for girls 

http://www.preemadonna.com/

Nails seem more suitable for bots than faces:

More:

http://cnet.com/news/beauty-bot-for-the-perfect-makeup-application/

The spambot comments on this thread (not visible) quite ironically prove the point :)

LOL, the bots keep spamming and we keep removing them. :)