For example, the seven-day pillbox is a structural godsend for the millions of Americans who take daily prescription medication. It solves a major challenge in the doctor-patient relationship: patient compliance. We wake up on a Thursday, ingest the contents of the “Th” slot, and achieve compliance with little effort. We regard the pillbox as a convenience but on another level, it’s a structural surrogate for self-discipline. We don’t have to remember to take our pills. The pillbox does the remembering for us.
