Telecommunications, moreover, is bringing work back into the home. The answer is yes, but it is a qualified yes. Just as an army cannot outrun its supply lines, workers always will need a recognizable base, so they can collaborate and fend off isolation. Just like everyone else, teleworkers need to get their dry cleaning done, and don t want to go too far for it. Electronic traders may operate globally, but the janitors who empty their wastebaskets and vacuum their floors have to be right there on the spot.
Chefs have to get the food to the table while it is hot.
Telehairdressing and teledentistry seem very far off. At the same time, the value of manually performed services will rise. Human nature hardly alters at all. There is a powerful glue that holds together concentrations of population and economic activity. So, while digital delivery of educational, entertainment, medical, retail, financial, and other services can be expected to produce new patterns among these concentrations, the new services certainly will not dissolve them.