Would you order from the Amazon Dash push-button service?

I wouldn’t have replied to this Convo but your post influenced me Ann . You cant say this wasnt predicted in SF films and books. Its one thing dumbing your mind ,its another destroying your spirit and thats what this new age is all about ,conform to our (business ) ideals of the perfect customer in buying from adverts , from obeying what you are told on TV and the media , in other words a “zombie ” existence. Play our virtual reality games dont go out “its creepy ” stay zoned in your own small world and let your more “wiser ” /betters -aka Masters control your life . Dont argue , dont dispute, but accept virtual reality as “real ” . Be born and die leading a closed secluded life like a nun in the Middle-Ages , then it was religion but now in this new age it has been replaced by Mind Control. Is this the life you want ? and to what effect ? learning for the masses drops dramatically as is shown by the lack of proper English/ unable to do mental arithmetic and having to be taught at school “Life Science ” which used to be taught by your parents and interaction with other people and walking in the countryside or even through a city. Soon it will be -looking out your window -look ! there,s an “Outer ” do you think he is safe ? and an “Inner ” is put forward by the media as “respectable ” and “wise ” .

Good stuff, DL – luckily we don’t have to inhale the full strength; not yet, anyway. Personally I hope this venture will fall flat on its face but Amazon are not noted for getting it wrong. I think we must spread Ann’s philosophy far and wide and protect our independent living skills – they are so precious. Amazon gets more like its namesake every day pulling huge amounts of stuff in from numerous tributaries and discharging millions of tonnes of silt into the ocean every year.

An Asimov fan, Duncan? Certainly a Caves of Steel reference in your post.

Ian –how did you know I have read just about every 50,s/60,s SF book by US SF authors also -some British ones too -eg-Arthur.c,. Clarke ?

You’d be at home with my library, then. We have 5000+ books around the shelves and I believe almost every SciFi story written between 1935 and 2000. But Asimov and Clarke stand above most, with Heinlein and the local Eric F Russell being among the finest, IMHO. Phil K Dick, of course, was one of the most portentous writers in terms of gloom and despair but I’ve long been interested in the ways the earlier writers predicted, often with worrying accuracy, the way society and the world would evolve.

And there,s me thinking I had too many books in the house . I have oft been criticised for the amount I have ,I am glad I am not alone , like you I am an avid reader ,spent a good part of my life reading books even into the small hours of the morning, cant put them down . Your SF collection sounds like “paradise ” to me ,and your absolutely right its as if Western society read them all too —and copied them into real life as a means of running society . I know the gloom and despair ones like a Universal Planetary Government in command of Outer Space coming up against another “species ” -aka- different political ideology(hint-hint ) and then Universal annihilation or the “brain washing” of the population to “conform” to a vision of society that turns them into automatons .Its not as if American SF films havent been showing the same for decades ,plenty of warning . We still havent mastered Interplanetary Drive yet , which is a good thing as we still havent mastered Peace.

I can appreciate that for many people it will be seen as exciting and progressive. For years the ‘mini-bars’ in hotel rooms have had sensors to detect the movement or withdrawal of items such that you can’t even put your own bottle of water in the fridge without triggering a charge. I agree that with a number of developments and refinements it could catch on with a certain demographic for whom filling a Waitrose order on-line is just too much bother. The current limitation of brands/products is a serious drawback but that will no doubt extend rapidly. Whether it will ever provide the choice and variety that we are used to in the UK I doubt but it might be handy for the staples. Amazon is already providing subscription services for all manner of household requirements like loo rolls and bin liners so that you don’t have to worry about running out and then running out to get some more at the last minute. Presumably one of the commercial spin-offs for Amazon is that if it can say to the detergent manufacturers “Look, we have got ten thousand customers locked into your product, now we want to see that commitment reflected in your wholesale prices” (so we can make bigger profits). The controlling aspects of systems like this are worrying though, as well as the long term consequences for cultural and social development.

Good points, DT. I don’t know what the payload of delivery drones is projected to be, or what their maximum mileage before recharging is, but I guess there is quite a long way to go before they become a feature of everyday life. As they return empty to their depot it will look like bees going back to their hive so drones will presumably have built-in electronic separation software to avoid collisions. There are various crime and security concerns as well. I can imagine that someone will develop an intercepting device that will be able to take over command of a drone and divert it to a different destination. or instruct it to descend and unload immediately.

The current 2.2 kg package weight limit, plus the weight of the drone, are already quite disturbing but they will presumably have to have higher capacity in order to be economically viable. The risks of crashing into each other and into structures in built-up areas are quite high, also of dropping their load while airborne [any remotely-activated release mechanism on the drone is bound to be prone to accidental premature evacuation].

Well said David. I think this is a case of “be careful what you wish for”. If we want “cheaper everything” and use the likes of Amazon to help us get it, then, in the longer term, we risk ending up with cheap and nasty social services (healthcare, welfare, schools, police, etc.) too.

Mary-is that the US dream or the British dream / The “American Dream ” dream has turned out to be an illusion for about half the population even middle class losing jobs and homes to support war, as well as overseas factories . I have never seen the “British Dream ” the only one I have ever known is poverty and then hard work to end up with my OAP being taxed twice while millionaires and billionaires avoid tax in off-shore islands and tax havens . So no there is no “British Dream ” for me just down to earth reality and existence.