Jefferson's Dumbwaiters

Jefferson installed dumbwaiters at Monticello — pulley systems and rotating doors — so that enslaved workers could send food and wine to the dining room without being seen. When Jefferson put an empty wine bottle in the compartment, an enslaved person in the basement pulled it down, inserted a fresh bottle, and sent it back up in seconds.

The conversations of Jefferson’s guests remained “undampened by the presence of servants.”

Taylor: if invented today, it would be called a “smart waiter.” She coined “fauxtomation” — systems marketed as automated that depend on hidden human labor. “‘Robots are taking our jobs’ gives technology agency it doesn’t possess, whereas ‘capitalists are making targeted investments in robots to get even richer’ is less catchy but more accurate.”