There’s a new spectacle in an electrical shop on Manhattan’s 86th Street – a vast refrigerator with a rather high quality built-in TV. It stands at the shop’s entrance, imposing, impressive and sort of sci-fi, much like one of those monoliths from 2001. I stood there too, part of a small crowd that marveled at the sight: gawping, amazed and slightly suspicious – much, now I come to think of it, like the cavemen from 2001. “That’s what I call lazy,” announced one lady before she walked off, shaking her head disapprovingly.

“Lazy?” No, that’s not the word, although I don’t know what is.