Ahead of Time: The Infrastructure of Amazon’s Anticipatory Shipping Method

Abstract

This text conducts a close reading of Amazon’s 2013 patent for a “Method and System for Anticipatory Package Shipping” on three levels in order to investigate the patent’s aspirations towards a potential hardwiring of temporality. First, through the lens of media theory, the patent is conceptualized as a medium for transporting knowledge over time itself. On a second level, the patent is framed as a logistical medium both due to its aspired effects in the logistical realm and its internal logic. Third, the specific form of anticipation, prediction and prophecy is investigated by leveraging Elena Esposito’s understanding of (digital) prophecy with a particular focus on temporality.