Change in our time
AN ITEM is doing the rounds describing things that will disappear in our lifetime. Headed for the scrapheap of history are:
· The post office. Get ready to imagine a world without the post office. It is so deeply in financial trouble that there is probably no way to sustain it long term. E-mail and courier services have just about wiped out the minimum revenue needed to keep the post office alive. Most of your mail every day is junk mail and bills.
· The cheque. It costs the financial system billions of dollars a year to process cheques. Plastic cards and online transactions will lead to the eventual demise of the cheque.
· The newspaper. The younger generation simply doesn't read the newspaper. They certainly don't subscribe to a daily delivered print edition.
· The book. You say you will never give up the physical book. I said the same about downloading music from iTunes. I wanted my hard copy CD. But I quickly changed my mind when I discovered I could get albums for half the price without ever leaving home. The same will happen with books.
· The landline telephone. Unless you have a large family and make a lot of local calls, you don't need it anymore. Most people keep it simply because they've always had it.
· Music. This is one of the saddest parts of the change story. The music industry is dying a slow death, not just because of illegal downloading. It's the lack of innovative new music being given a chance to get to the people who would like to hear it. Greed and corruption is the problem. The record labels and the radio conglomerates are simply self-destructing.
· Television. Revenues to the networks are down dramatically. People are watching TV and movies streamed from their computers. Prime time shows have degenerated to lower than the lowest common denominator.
· Ownership. Apple, Microsoft, and Google are all finishing up their latest "cloud services." When you turn on a computer, the Internet will be built into the operating system. In this virtual world, you can access everything but will you actually own any of this stuff?
· Privacy. That's gone. There are cameras on the street, in most of the buildings, and even built into your computer and cellphone.
Not quite true
YES, CHANGE is coming. But I would take issue with some of the above.
Although e-books are going to be a huge slice of the future market, not everyone is a computer geek. To scroll backward and forward on a computer screen is tiresome and disorientating. In fact this process is in ways a regression to the scrolling and unscrolling of the parchments that preceded books.
Much the same can be said of newspapers, which are digests tailored to the interests of their readers. It's very difficult to replicate this online.
You can't kill a cockroach with a kindle – you might kill the kindle. You can't roll up a kindle or a laptop to chase the dogs and cats off the furniture.
I say books and newspapers are highly unlikely to actually disappear.
And to think music will disappear because the recording industry is in a mess is simply bizarre.
Beer, fags
INVESTMENT analyst Dr James Greener notes in his latest grumpy newsletter that beer and fags are big business in South Africa.
"In the light of faintly hysterical and foolish waffle about South Africa and Nigeria fighting to be the continent's economic giant, it is useful to note that here on the southern tip we are gently and happily showing what matters most. The two largest listed companies on the JSE are now a cigarette manufacturer (BAT) and a brewer (SAB Miller).
"The days of mining and industrial behemoths dominating the Johannesburg boards are fading away in a haze of tobacco smoke and beer froth. Standard Bank, our largest financial sector share has a market cap just one third the size of SAB; and Sasol, that unique and outstanding all-South African energy business, is also just one third the size of BAT.
"I wonder if the medical sector is undervalued?"
Tailpiece
BEACH blonde in deckchair to fellow beach blonde in deckchair: "My fantasy is having two men at the same time. One cooking, one cleaning."
Last word
Mediocrity knows nothing higher than itself, but talent instantly recognises genius.
No comments:
Post a Comment