Imagine a scenario set in the near future where a person interacts with the virtual world on the Facebook Oculus platform, drives off in his autonomous Apple Car to the local Amazon grocery store GO, where he picks up items he needs, scans them on his phone and then leaves. There is no checkout, no line — everything is fully automated.
The companies developing some of these futuristic technologies such as Amazon, Facebook, Google, Apple and Microsoft are currently among the top 10 most valuable companies in the US. Collectively, these tech titans command a market capitalisation in excess of

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