[alancalverd (OP)]

Cool, please email me a sandwich.

Happy to help. Since I gave up pointless commuting and started working from home, I've occasionally ordered lunch by email from a local sandwich van, pizza shop or curry kitchen. Vastly more efficient for all concerned (especially if I'm holding a 3-way Skype conference with a manufacturer in Germany and a technician in Scotland) and far less polluting.   

[Bored chemist]

Cool, please email me a sandwich.

Happy to help. Since I gave up pointless commuting and started working from home, I've occasionally ordered lunch by email from a local sandwich van, pizza shop or curry kitchen. Vastly more efficient for all concerned (especially if I'm holding a 3-way Skype conference with a manufacturer in Germany and a technician in Scotland) and far less polluting.   

That's very nice.
I didn't ask you to email the order for a sandwich, I asked you to email a sandwich.
So you haven't addressed the real issue, have you?
You can't do all commerce on line because you can't deliver real-world products on line.

[alancalverd (OP)]

So all those "office" workers in London are actually employed planting trees, carrying sacks of coal, rice, or whatever, or building houses and cars. No wonder the place is hot and smelly. 

[Bored chemist]

So all those "office" workers in London are actually employed planting trees, carrying sacks of coal, rice, or whatever, or building houses and cars. No wonder the place is hot and smelly. 

No
Nobody said they were- so that's a straw-man isn't it?

I see you don't think that what you said is important; it can't be, or you would remember, or at least read, it.
What you said was "any other commercial activity can be better done on line."
And providing sandwiches is part of commerce.
So, according to you  it can be done on line.

However, in the real world, you are wrong, and it can't.

[alancalverd (OP)]

So Amazon, Just Eat, and every airline, are not in the real world.

Mustabin sumptin I smoked, man.

[jeffreyH]

Transaction and delivery are separate entities. After you've written your 100th ecommerce website this becomes very apparent.

[Bored chemist]

So Amazon, Just Eat, and every airline, are not in the real world.

Mustabin sumptin I smoked, man.

You just made my point for me.
They are in the real world- not the virtual one.
Their commerce isn't just on line, is it?

[Bored chemist]

Transaction and delivery are separate entities. .

Indeed, and they both form part of commerce.
The transaction can often be done on line. That's simply not the case with delivery.

[jeffreyH]

Transaction and delivery are separate entities. .

Indeed, and they both form part of commerce.
The transaction can often be done on line. That's simply not the case with delivery.

What if you had edible paper and ink in a special fax machine and I sent an image of a burger. The ink could be flavoured appropriately. Wouldn't that be cool? Or a 3d printer using cooking ingredients.

[alancalverd (OP)]

Britain's only remaining industry is, apparently, banking. I haven't seen many people heaving sacks of notes and gold around the City of London, and international banking has come a long way since galleons moved doubloons arond the Spanish Empire to pay the Conquistadores' wages.

[chiralSPO]

This discussion has gotten somewhat off-track, and I will probably come back and split it when I have the time. But I will point out that with 3-D printing, items can now be generated at one place, using information from another. This may at some point be used commercially to "transmit" produced goods.

Of course, the raw material for producing said goods still has to be moved around the old fashioned way (until some time in the 23rd century, if star trek can be trusted)

[Bored chemist]

Britain's only remaining industry is, apparently, banking. I haven't seen many people heaving sacks of notes and gold around the City of London, and international banking has come a long way since galleons moved doubloons arond the Spanish Empire to pay the Conquistadores' wages.

You already tried that straw-man.
It already failed.

You stated a bizarre absolute
What you said was "any other commercial activity can be better done on line."
Proving that some activity is done on line is not the same as showing that any activity can be done on line.



Incidentally, it's not true that "Britain's only remaining industry is, apparently, banking."
That's just Right wing propaganda.
The figures are here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_the_United_Kingdom#Manufacturing
"In 2011 the UK manufacturing sector generated approximately £140,539 million in gross value added "
"The UK financial services industry added gross value of £116,363 million to the UK economy in 2011."

(OK the figures are a bit out of date but the point stands; manufacturing is bigger than finance.)

[jeffreyH]

This discussion has gotten somewhat off-track, and I will probably come back and split it when I have the time. But I will point out that with 3-D printing, items can now be generated at one place, using information from another. This may at some point be used commercially to "transmit" produced goods.

Of course, the raw material for producing said goods still has to be moved around the old fashioned way (until some time in the 23rd century, if star trek can be trusted)

Food, climate. Climate, food. What's the difference?

[chiralSPO]

Food, climate. Climate, food. What's the difference?

While I will grant that food and climate are quite closely linked, the question of whether a sandwich can be emailed has essentially no bearing on the question of how harmful global warming might be. Since there appeared to be interest in this line of discussion, I took the liberty of splitting it off.

[evan_au]

Technology is advancing rapidly:

• In the 70's, you could email the word "sandwich" (in a monospaced font).
• In the 2000's, you could email a digital photo of a sandwich (I had an almost 2 megapixel camera in 2000).
• In the 2010's, you could email a digital movie of a sandwich - or even a 3D view of a sandwich.
• Today, you can email a plastic sandwich to your 3D printer.
• Today, some research labs will let you feel a sandwich.
• I am not aware of any researchers who claim to be able to email you the smell of a sandwich.
• And emailing an edible and nutritious sandwich (or printing one locally) does sound a little Star Trek compared to today's technology...

[RD]

• I am not aware of any researchers who claim to be able to email you the smell of a sandwich.

Virtual Reality olfaction  is here ...

[evan_au]

Virtual Reality olfaction  is here ...

I wonder if they have a sandwich cartridge?

In reality, we have hundreds of smell receptors in our noses (and not always the same set for everyone). So I expect a 7-channel smell generator would give fairly low resolution.

But looking at another sense, we have been able to conveniently email the sound of someone making (or eating) a sandwich for at least 10 years.

[Bored chemist]

Well, there's this
https://www.theverge.com/2014/1/24/5342180/watch-this-3d-printer-make-pizza-fit-for-astronauts
but the point remains- you can't email new cartridges to it.

So the original claim that Alan made
" any other commercial activity can be better done on line."
is still daft.

[chris]

This discussion has gotten somewhat off-track, and I will probably come back and split it when I have the time. But I will point out that with 3-D printing, items can now be generated at one place, using information from another. This may at some point be used commercially to "transmit" produced goods.

3d printed fruit, anyone?

I see the day coming when every household will have a 3d printer-type thing and we will buy "recipes" that enable us to produce whatever it is we want using our home "replicator". Even medicines could be made this way. There will, naturally, be some things that require more specialist reagents, but these could be sent in advance of the synthesis, when needed.

[jeffreyH]

Could a 3d printer print another 3d printer?