While wandering around trying to look for a Cheers, 7-11 to get my 100Plus or H2O, a scary future came to me. It was about imagining the future of cashiers, and I was wondering how even the lower paying jobs can be made into highly intelligent jobs...
I thought about this as I was asking the cashier a rather strange question. I was asking her what I could buy with less than a dollar. The cashier didn't know the answer, so I began thinking about this problem.
I then realised that damned Google are going to rule the way with their search power. because a lot of problems in the world in the everyday world are essentially search problems...
Anyway, I realised that if we can begin to see everyone as a repository of information, and are essentially information arbitrage agents, then... every activity can be value-added by adding that information component.
Currently cashiers are only at the tail-end of the retail experience. You select the item yourself, and proceed to payment. Nothing really much else to it. But if the cashier was instead seen as an information agent, then...
'hey man, what would you like...'
'looking for a drink. just came back from a run'
(cashier checks stock of 100plus, isotonic drink)
'here you go. would you also like to buy an energy bar to help you recover from your run?'
Hmm.. just thinking. How expensive would it be if the cashiers took something like basic food science and brain chemistry? This kind of information are probably used by industries in their foodmaking, but if convenience stores act like... neurochemistry manipulators...
I shudder at the thought of that.
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