Commerce

Our technology is consuming virtually all of our attention. Even our dogs have resigned themselves to the fact they are no long man’s best friend. But while those who are desperately concerned with the wellbeing of our society are raising red flags, the business world is being incentivized to create technologies that elevate our addictions even further.

In many industries, we have seen the disappearance of jobs, the workplace, and the workweek.  Work happens anytime and from anywhere.  Yet, other businesses are comparatively unchanged. Why is this?  We currently have two separate economies running in parallel – the digital and the physical.

...Until, One Supposes, There Is Nobody Left To Buy Anything In A World Reduced To An Uninhabitable Cinder. You Know, for Profit!

How will businesses react if patents are granted in 3 months instead of what currently takes over 3 years? And what will it look like if patents are as easy to license as music and photographs? Here are four key trends that will drive the world of intellectual property over the coming years.

If you had a choice of flying from Boston to San Diego in a plane piloted by a single machine or the combined intelligence of 3,000 people, which would you choose? Perhaps you would want more information before making that decision. If the machine piloting the aircraft was a well-designed piece of equipment that had been used as an autopilot for thousands of successful flights, and the 3,000 people were of average intelligence living in the Midwest, which would you choose?

JC Penney's CEO Ron Johnson has made a bold statement regarding the future of the company - that it plans to move all of its inventory onto an advanced RFID system and obviate the need for human cashiers.