This means cars will be able to report faults to manufacturers automatically. The solution to the problem will be delivered to you, the driver, and the specific part reference will be sent to your dealer's service department. We are told that 1998 will see our home, office and car turn into virtual shops, with ECommerce racking up a forty-four percent jump in trade over the last six months of 1997. And there are predictions of a two hundred and fifty percent increase by the end of this year. And guessing the social impact of new technology is equally hazardous.
Major changes driven by technology can happen relatively quickly in the economy.
Social changes lag behind. People will take many years to come to terms with many of the consequences of near-costless communication. But as they do, the world will become, on balance, a better place.