2024 01 20

Woodman’s parking lot. North Aurora, Illinois. November, 2023. © Clayton Hauck

In America, and therefore the world, we now live in the Copy/Paste Economy. The land has been fully scanned, analysed, and assessed to deterime its exact valuation.

Mr. Walton used to plan his next store locations by flying over the landscape in an airplane. Now, all of this data is accessible via any number of services. Hey ChatGPT: calculate for me the best location to open a car wash based on existing vehicle purchase data, average household income, historical insurance data, weather, distance to existing competitor locations, google reviews, etc, etc, etc. There’s no longer a human element to any of these Copy/Paste Places. Each decision is made in a computer and the plans are duplicated from the previous project, while the factory in China pumps out another BAKERY LIQUOR sign and plops it on a boat for delivery in three weeks time.

The only benefit is I always know precisely where the bathroom is at every stop on a road trip without needing to talk to anyone.

-Clayton