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The barcode, which completely revolutionized how we shop, work and live, turns 50 this summer.
What it didn't do: Herald the end times, as conspiracy theorists once fretted.
What it did do: Usher in a new age of global commerce.

And fast forward to today, when more than 10 billion product barcodes are scanned every day (not to mention their descendant, the QR code)
https://theconversation.com/happy-50th-birthday-to-the-upc-barcode-no-one-expected-you-would-revolutionize-global-commerce-234247
#Histodons @histodons #shopping #technology

Happy 50th birthday to the UPC barcode – no one expected you would revolutionize global commerce

The scanning of a package of gum in an Ohio grocery store in 1974 marked the beginning of an era.
The Conversation
#technology #histodons #shopping @histodons group
in reply to The Conversation U.S.

Scott Matter
Scott Matter
• •
To be fair to the conspiracy theorists, technologies that escalate human ability to overconsume, and that enable the extractivist, accumulationist, exploitationist paradigm we live in, probably are hastening our arrival at the end times (but through ecosphere collapse rather than mark-of-the-beast biblical ways)
in reply to The Conversation U.S.

jon ⚝
jon ⚝
• •

I feel this piece could gain from amending a paragraph to continuing standardisation efforts around GS1.

cc @PhilA

@histodons @scottmatter

@Scott Matter @histodons group @PhilA
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