April 2, 2020
Brooklyn, New York

A special message to all our IF’ers:

Tom, Matt and I recorded this episode on March 11th, and the inspiration for the “IF” of the week was the big tech news headline of the day: Amazon offers a completely contactless payment system to the world! Four days later, the COVID-19 virus became a deeply unwelcome visitor here in New York and the world turned inside-out. Well, actually, the world has turned outside-in, since we’re all currently homebound… living like couch potatoes… which is, frankly, the truest of American lifestyles… EXCEPT when alien creatures are forcing us to do it!

So this week’s topic is simultaneously hilariously anachronistic, and also totally fitting! We’re currently living in the most CONTACT-LESS of worlds! Don’t touch anything, don’t get near anything, and especially don’t get near other people. (Also, don’t lick things, but that pretty much applies to any time period on Earth.)

Tom is a wonderful spirit and a wickedly smart chap, and this episode is a whole lotta fun. A tiny peek backwards, and very eye opening look forwards into what is surely the world to come.

Be safe, stay home, be well. Write in and let us know how you’re doing, we’d love to hear from you. To all our long time listeners around the world, thank you for your support, and enjoy the show, this is a great one!

Keep on IFFin’
— Philip

This episode:

They’re tracking what you’re buying, in the GROCERY STORE!

Fellow podcaster and Science Fiction author, TOM MERRITT is our guest. His latest novel, TRIGOR is out now on Amazon!

Tom brings a wild and fantastical IF to us this week, based loosely on the latest experiment by the eye of AMAZ-AURON, the Amazon Go stores.

WTiF You never had to go to the cashier again? You could just WALK OUT with all your toilet paper and Frosted Flakes!

But WTiF this idea expanded to the entire WORLD?! You could just walk into a DMV and get your drivers license without talking to a single LIVING PERSON! Maybe it’d get rid of those crazy wait times!

TOM MERRITT is an award-winning independent tech podcaster, author, and host of regular tech news and information shows. Tom hosts SWORD AND LASER, a science fiction and fantasy podcast, and book club with Veronica Belmont. He also co-hosts DAILY TECH NEWS SHOW, covering the most important tech issues of the day with the smartest minds in technology. He’s written such books as PAVARIA, CITADEL 32, LOT BETA and the PILOT X series. 

Check out TRIGOR, the second book in the PILOT X universe, on Amazon!

Visit his website tommerritt.com

MORE ON THE IF THIS WEEK:

1.     Just Walk Out

How does Just Walk Out work? Here’s the official promotion for Amazon Go and a look at the user interface. For the use of the technology by third parties, Amazon explains how the logistics of installing the system is settled.

2.     Implications

What are the implications Just Walk Out and similar systems of cashier-less technology? This article briefly summarizes some of the potential results the spreading of this technology may have on data privacy and employment.

3.     Privacy issue

With Amazon’s plan in expanding its own physical chain and outsourcing the technology to third parties, data use and privacy is quickly becoming a controversial topic. Amazon has yet to provide details on how the technology actually works, but given its history of reliance on big data, concerns over the use of the information from this program are emerging.  

4.     Toilet Paper Panic

In the wake of the pandemic, people all over the world are racing to stock up their pantry in the event of an emergency. But of all necessities, why has toilet paper risen to the top of the shopping list? This article explores the psychology behind this “Toilet Paper Panic”.

Special thanks to Kyle Crichton, Howard Zheng and Illia Zheng for their help with the show.

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