Michael Dell was probably one of the first people to commercialize the idea that going direct to the manufacturer made more sense than buying from a distributor or retailer. Intermediaries make money from making it convenient and hassle free. This includes wholesale markets and other kinds that consolidate goods for easy "one-stop" purchasing. Amazon makes huge profits from being an intermediary. But I predict that one day technology and markets will innovate to remove the "Amazon-type" digital intermediaries. Wood and stone are commodities used to build many things. One comes out of growth of a plant, the other is the product of minerals that got compressed with high pressure and heat. Both cannot speak to you or have any meaning unless you make them out to be something. And this is the case with the gods that many cultures have created over the centuries. They only found meaning from mere mortals. They were created in "real time", and not "...