High Complexity in the Service of Simplicity

I love the idea of all things controllable by one interface. But Greenfield's description of the High Complexity in the Service of Simplicity touches on a topic that I've thought of many time in the advent of technology. We obviously want technology to make our lives easier. I'd love to sift off mundane tasks to my R2 unit and focus on pressing matters. But the automated devices that make life simple are complex themselves.

Take my R2 unit for example (no i don't really have one though it'd be freaking awesome). Artificial Intelligence is built upon automations of automations. Programming of the most complexity. Time and research has been spent on this field for ages with significant, yet limited, results. But the capabilities of these robots are amazing. Just passing by the Robotics Lab in Taylor Hall, we can see little puppies playing soccer. Not cloning or scientific experiments, just soccer. The students at this university have achieved a great feat though. If these puppies can play soccer, then tackling dirt and trash in the house will definitely be an option in the near future. Yet these programmers have coded their butts off just to reach that milestone. High complexity that no one could understand, few have and put it inside mechanical dogs. It's purpose...to play soccer, next: sweep and mop floors. Technology will do everything for us to make our lives simpler, but we must simply make technology able to do everything.