I recently read that some people's idea of the future of e-commerce
on the internet will be enormous expansion of on-line auctions.
I find this prospect frightening.
(1) It takes a lot of time to compete in online
auctions, so that any "labor saving" potential of
computers may get more than absorbed in a new
form of compulsory shopping -- having to bid on
one's groceries, toiletries, everything....
The potential downsides seem to me almost endless,
although I can see some ideological "freemarketeers"
celebrating this as, at last, a really free market,
since everybody will be able to negotiate on the
price of everything (well, of course, not really, but
that probably won't deter the freemarketeers from
celebrating as if it was...).
Many persons just won't be able to cope with so much
computer interaction so close to the
heart of their lives (or they won't want to).
Probably many new forms of "middlemen" will spring up
to do the bidding for their "clients". Which will mean
lots more highly volatile commodities "markets",
etc.
I don't want to imagine any further how just this
one new social construct:
The Internet as universal bazaar/auction space
(which may just kind of happen
by the machinations of the "invisible hand" without
too many people working too hard to help it happen...)
could make our lives far more complex and precarious -->
could take over our lives....
Might the effects be
as portentous as I believe was the closing
of the common lands -- "enclosure" -- at the start of the Industrial
Revolution (sorry my history here is not good)?
+\brad mccormick
--
Let your light so shine before men,
that they may see your good works.... (Matt 5:16)
Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. (1 Thes 5:21)
Brad McCormick, Ed.D. / [EMAIL PROTECTED]
914.238.0788 / 27 Poillon Rd, Chappaqua NY 10514-3403 USA
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