What need does speed satisfy? LO17973

Tom Christoffel (tjcdsgns@shentel.net)
Mon, 4 May 1998 08:43:59 -0400 (EDT)

Replying to LO17955 --

At wrote:

(among other things) "We are behaving completely out of size."

I'd suggest that we need to catch up with our size, specifically that of
the total global population which has tripled from two to six billion in
about 40 years. The Univac computer was contracted by the U.S Bureau of
the Census to tabulate the 1950 census numbers. It would have taken nearly
the whole decade to tabulate the information they were getting.

Banks are leaders in technology deployment because of the huge increase in
transactions - checks, credit cards, etc. Technology was needed to keep
the cost per transaction low.

Speeding things up increases the need for communications for coordination.
Having more to coordinate, increases the need for communications.

As for the emergence of creativity - I think the transendentalists of the
mid-1800's were dealing with the issues if not the word. Life was speeding
up. Emerson mocked a man who went to take a nap advising that he be
awakened if any important news came in.

Walt Whitman's poetry dealt with human emergence. "Leaves of Grass" can be
found online in the collection at:
http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu/whitman/

Tom

-- 
Thomas J. (Tom) Christoffel, AICP * e-mail: tjcdsgns@shentel.net
Planner & Futurist - My mission: "Regions_Work!" 
Why?  "All markets are regional and the economy is global. Two or more
crossing boundaries to solve a problem is regional cooperation."
*TJCdesigns * Box 1444 * Front Royal, Virginia (VA) 22630-1444 *
 "True peace is dynamic. For sustainability, design with re-use in mind." 

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