The world of commerce lives in your pocket
SOMEBODY predicted recently that it would not be long before there were no more “bricks and mortar” banks as more and more people switched to internet banking. I was slightly surprised by this as I didn’t think there were enough people owning computers; but I then felt a little foolish when I thought I didn’t know anybody who doesn’t own a smart phone.
From the street sweeper to the secretary of state, everybody seems linked to the network.
I guess insurance companies, florists, cinemas, libraries and travel agents will all soon give up their bricks-and-mortar premises and move into our pockets. Already post offices are becoming obsolete. Who posts letters any more? Parcels are handled by professional couriers.
On my occasional visits overseas I’ve seen more and more people doing their everyday shopping online. Tap out an SMS and half an hour later your groceries are delivered to your door from some warehouse outside the city.
Cyclists and runners wear devices that keep track of their heart rate, breathing and blood pressure continuously.
How long will it be before doctors’ surgeries will be obsolete too? Your monitor will advise your e-doctor electronically of any changes in your health and automatically send a prescription to the virtual pharmacy and it will be brought to your door by a drone before you even realised you needed it.
It’s interesting to speculate what cities will look like in 20 years’ time. Maybe the empty bank buildings and vast CBD office blocks will be handed over to accommodate homeless people. Will the streets become quiet as nobody needs to travel anywhere?
We are told all cars will be electrically powered and never require servicing, so garages will be reduced to unmanned rows of charging points for our vehicles. No need for cashiers. The charging points will automatically subtract the charge from your card account and your non-existent bank will deduct it from you.
About the only industry that seems to be requiring more bricks-and-mortar premises is the tattoo business. Tattoo studios are springing up everywhere. As far as I know there’s no way get of getting a tattoo by e-mail. Maybe parents should be telling their children to forget about studying law, engineering, accounting or medicine and look into becoming tattoo artists instead.
At art schools the term “life classes” will take on a whole new meaning. Artists’ models will be discarded when they’ve run out of bare patches. We certainly do live in interesting times.
Last Laugh
A movie director was filming in the Kahalari desert when a Khoi man dressed in animal skins sidled up and said: “Tomorrow big rain.” Sure enough it poured with rain the next day. Soon afterwards the man appeared and said: “Storm tomorrow.” A violent storm forced the crew to halt filming. The director was so impressed he put the man on his payroll as weather forecaster. For three days he did not appear and, when he did, the director asked: “What weather tomorrow?” “No idea,” said the man. “Why don’t you know?” he was asked. “Radio battery dead.”