“The Blame Game”

Jakob Neilsen contends that the internet will play a role in “undoing” the industrial revolution and revitalize a shift in industry. But one could also argue that we have already witnessed a dramatic shift in industry, in that, large manufacturing corporations have turned to supply chain suppliers and moved away from the traditional centralized manufacturing buildings that once housed all the research & development, production and assembly under one roof.

I believe it is this trend, and not so much the “customization” trend on the internet, that is largely affecting not only consumers, but the environment, the economy and the overall psyche of how manufacturing should be conducted in America, and therefore world-wide. We no longer live in a world that we can pinpoint every environmentally damaging bi-product and its point of origin; it is therefore extremely difficult to hold anyone responsible or liable.

Who do you blame when there is a malfunction with your car and you crash? Do you look to the person that sold you the car, the one that assembled the car, or the person responsible for making the individual car parts? And the same goes for any pollution caused in the making of, during usage, and the eventual destruction of the car… who is liable?