 Here are some of the tech trends that are hot in the middle of 2016. We already almost all have smartphones in our pockets and pour all kinds of data onto online social media. In the background, companies are already using big data analytics and now increasingly machine learning to analyze what we've done. There is the automation of almost all work. Software is in fact eating the world and it's hard to figure out which job title is going to disappear next. And then we're instrumenting everything and wiring it up and adding sensors and actuators in this thing called the Internet of Things that many people are really enthusiastic about. In the meantime, we're distributing the open ledger through Bitcoin and blockchain and trying to figure out how to eliminate some of the centralized bureaucratic data centers involved in finance and insurance and other fields. And people now have 3D printers and they're cheaper and cheaper goggles are available so that you can see through them or in them all kinds of new things. In the meantime, our environment is starting to get invaded by robocars and drones in the air and on the ground and many people are wearing different kinds of fitness trackers including things built into those smartphones in the first bullet point. So there are sensors absolutely everywhere. This is a really interesting set of technologies in particular. It is Nirvana for advertisers and the whole nexus of companies that are trying to collect up our data, analyze it and get us to buy more stuff. It is Katnip for managers and engineers and other sorts of people who love big data and want to figure out, hey, how can we be more profitable? And I can't blame them for doing that. So we are very rapidly approaching scenarios like this one in Minority Report where Ethan is walking through the mall trying to sneak into the facility where the precogs are, but the billboards identify him either by his eyes or by something. He's wearing whatever it might be and they start calling out to him by name, which is a little bit worrisome because he's trying to be selfie. This scene is actually very possible today. We have the technology to do proximity and to do face reading and identify people in lots of different ways. In fact, the billboards could be digital autonomous corporations or DACs that could operate on their own to source and pay for power, to be in markets to figure out exactly which ads should they run for you in particular, to bid those ads up and display them as you walk by. This is not a far-fetched kind of scenario. It's also, to my mind, not that interesting a scenario in my world. So let's look at this list of technologies once again because they are taking us, they could be used for good or for evil, so to speak, but right this minute they're taking us straight into what a few people are calling the stalker economy. Al Gore has talked about the stalker economy. My friend Mary Hodder has talked about it for some time. Truly, companies are acting like stalkers and I know the word is very, very strong and I know it has implications I don't really mean to touch here, but I can't overemphasize how much of a break of trust this is and where this is all taking us. Another word for it is surveillance capitalism and we are in fact heading right towards that. It's a variant of capitalism that isn't very healthy. So if this is how companies that are trying to sell us things get our attention, if this is the full mechanism of what they're doing today, then why on earth should we trust them? Why? I'm non-plussed. I think we sort of buy stuff from them because they exist and they continue to be there. We don't have a lot of other options, but those other options are beginning to grow. But if trust is essential to commerce, then we need to look at all of this very differently and companies need to face the question, do we want to stalk our customers or do we want to serve them? And you could use every one of those technologies on that long list to be of service, of trustworthy service and be on my side as your customer. This is a really interesting conversation to have. It's a crucial conversation in the middle of the relationship economy. My name is Jerry Mikulski. Thanks for watching this Rexcast, part of the relationship economy. There's a lot more at the links on this page, and if you subscribe to this channel.