What work is left once a machine's payments are automated?
From MCC-001, an essay: a hypothesis, not a measurement.
The short answer
Almost all of the buying. The essay argues that automating payment still leaves finding a counterparty, evaluating the offer and determining whether the promised outcome occurred.
As published in the issue
Automating payment leaves the work of finding a counterparty, evaluating the offer and determining whether the promised outcome occurred.
The sentence above is quoted from the essay as published and is not re-written here. The essay, its date and the address it was published at are below.
Why it matters
Payment is the step machine commerce has solved most visibly. The steps around it decide whether a purchase was worth making.
Source
- Issue
- Machine Commerce Conditions: MCC-001 — September 2026
- Published
The terms
The terms this question uses are defined in the glossary.
Where our own record speaks to this
These are measured answers, each counted over its own population on its own date. This page links them and quotes nothing from them.
Corrections and disputes
Corrections to this issue are on the corrections register, and this answer reads from the record rather than from a copy.