Futurist Thomas Frey offers an economic scenario for Internet payment. When you make a purchase on the Internet, several related businesses will be paid simultaneously, manufacturers, transportation, distribution, call center, website operator etc. Programs are currently being configured to this end.
The question for discussion is what are the consequences for the consumer. How does one get their money back and from whom? Will it be from the distribution center who sent the wrong item or the shipper who caused it to arrive months later? Who will be the legally responsible party? Do my lawyers have to talk to lawyers from all of the companies involved? The legal profession is going to love that! Fractal Transactions sound good for the companies who get their money much sooner, but what about the consumer and who is looking out for their rights?
Monday, January 29, 2007
Ending addiction problems
A Sign of the Times for January 2007: Scientists have discovered the brain system responsible for maintaining the addiction to cigarette smoking has been identified. The discovery was made when it was found that individuals with damage to a portion of the brain called the insula lost the urge to smoke and never relapsed unlike the four out of five smokers who have tried to quit.
Commentary: What are the possible consequences if this were to come true? If this signal system works for nicotine, it is assumed it could work with other addictive products. Drug/alcohol clinics, nicotine patches, many counseling services would dry up. Drug producers/ traffickers would loose their market incrementally as the technique/medication spreads. Farmers trying to survive on drug crops will loose their business and be forced to grow something else lucrative. Courts may use the treatment as a sentence, thus eliminating many individuals from jail terms.
On the other hand drug use might continue and a huge market for insula signal medicine, possibly called "the day after" medicine might be the biggest selling medicine ever created!
Commentary: What are the possible consequences if this were to come true? If this signal system works for nicotine, it is assumed it could work with other addictive products. Drug/alcohol clinics, nicotine patches, many counseling services would dry up. Drug producers/ traffickers would loose their market incrementally as the technique/medication spreads. Farmers trying to survive on drug crops will loose their business and be forced to grow something else lucrative. Courts may use the treatment as a sentence, thus eliminating many individuals from jail terms.
On the other hand drug use might continue and a huge market for insula signal medicine, possibly called "the day after" medicine might be the biggest selling medicine ever created!
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