Yes it was a long read, but truly fascinating and well worth the time. I think I will copy this link to my kids, and a couple of other young folk to whom I might dare recommend this as something for reflection about the world that might be evolving for their grandchildren.

One also wonders about the expectations of the mega million grandkids of China India etc. in this time frame and of how they will share in this "utopia".

Jake

[ August 07, 2002: Message edited by: Jake ]

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Patio Man pays for the grill with his credit card, and is told that some minion will forklift his machine over to the loading dock around back. It is yet another triumph in a lifetime of conquest shopping, and as Patio Man heads toward the parking lot he is glad once again that he's driving that Yukon XL so that he can approach the loading dock guys as a co-equal in the manly fraternity of Those Who Haul Things.

He steps out into the parking lot and is momentarily blinded by sun bouncing off the hardtop. The parking lot is so massive that he can barely see the Wal-Mart, the Bed Bath & Beyond, or the area-code-sized Old Navy glistening through the heat there on the other side. This mall is in fact big enough to qualify for membership in the United Nations, and is so vast that shoppers have to drive from store to store, cutting diagonally through the infinity of empty parking spaces in between.

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