Re: Why have these "things" at all?
If you start looking seriously at what's needed, there's very little in life that's actually 'needed'. Most things fall into some category of Want - because it makes life easier, more pleasant and so on.
Of course digital assistants aren't needed - but then neither are mobile phones, supermarkets, clothes designed for anything besides warmth, coffee, cars, the Internet, banks.... the list is endless. Removing all 'wants' and reducing to actual 'needs' means humanity will regress to a subsistence society, and pretty much all 'development' will grind to a halt.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
