Leveraging big data and unrivaled knowledge of consumer purchasing patterns, Amazon will soon meet your need for stuff, without the friction of deciding or ordering. I call this concept Prime Squared. You may need to calibrate every once in a while—less stuff when you go on vacation, more when you’re having people over, less Lindt Chocolate when you fall out of love with it—but everything else will operate on retail’s equivalent of fly-by-wire. Your order will arrive with an empty box; you’ll put the stuff you don’t want in the return box, and Amazon will record your preferences. Next time,
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Frederik Pohl' novella THE MIDAS PLAGUE meets PKD's "Autofac".
