XPost: rec.arts.sf.written, rec.arts.sf.science   
   From: seawasp@sgeinc.invalid.com   
      
   On 1/16/14 4:27 PM, Leszek Karlik wrote:   
   > On Thu, 16 Jan 2014 22:10:58 +0100, Sea Wasp (Ryk E. Spoor)   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   > [...]   
   >>     Big difference: I can quite literally sample the book. I can tell   
   >> how it "tastes". I cannot do that with an online grocery.   
   >   
   > You can taste an apple in a supermarket and then leave it half-bitten when   
   > it turns out you don't like the taste? Around here, eating the goods before   
   > purchasing them seems to be frowned upon.   
      
      
   	Not apples, no, but I can examine them FAR more closely -- read a   
   couple pages, so to speak -- in person than I could remotely, and of   
   course remotely I have no guarantee that the lovely apple on the screen   
   is actually the apple that I'm going to get.   
      
   >   
   > [...]   
   >>     But not for me, and I doubt it ever will be. If I'm in a   
   >> restaurant, I'm paying a rather steep premium for someone to pick my   
   >> food ingredients... and I have an IMMEDIATE ability to tell them if   
   >> they've screwed up and get it fixed.   
   >>   
   >>     Not so with remote order and delivery.   
   >   
   > That's why nobody ever orders pizza remotely, right? Or oriental food.   
   > Or sushi.   
      
   	If you're unable to see the vast difference, I won't attempt to explain   
   it to you.   
      
      
      
   >>     Doubly useless for delivering food; food spoils, and generally I   
   >> want my food NOW. I don't know what I'll be using in two weeks. I know   
   >> what I'll be using tonight, and maybe a couple days from now. When I   
   >> go shopping,I get exactly what I want, including getting *that* apple   
   >> instead of *this* apple, and I get it right away, and control the   
   >> delivery thereof.   
   >   
   > Has it occurred to you that you simply might not be a target of the "remote   
   > delivery" business model?   
      
   	Does it matter when I'm discussing what works for me? I am, after all,   
   the only market that actually matters to me.   
      
      
     This doesn't mean that it won't be popular,   
   > unless   
   > you consider yourself to be a perfect representative of the majority of   
   > customers available on the market.   
      
   	I'm a perfect representative of my market. The approach works in the   
   UK. I've seen at least four attempts to do something like it here; most   
   have crashed and burned, and a couple have had some moderate, but not   
   amazing, success.   
      
   >   
   >>     Now, give me a matter replicator (a 3D printer capable of   
   >> nanoscale manufacturing from any materials) and designs for   
   >> top-quality food, now you're talking.   
   >   
   > Meh, I'm not sure if I'd want to eat food from a matter replicator. Who's   
   > to guarantee that the design is not spiked with some nasty chemicals by   
   > some pranksters or cyberterrorists?   
   >   
   > I can't scrutinize the molecular design of replicator "food", molecule by   
   > molecule. Give me old-fashioned grown food stamped by the FDA (or   
   > equivalent) anytime.   
   >   
      
   	And how would that be safer? Any random person could just walk by and   
   poison the old-fashioned stuff.   
      
      
   --   
                         Sea Wasp   
                           /^\   
                           ;;;	   
   Website: http://www.grandcentralarena.com  Blog:   
   http://seawasp.livejournal.com   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)