Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from July, 2017

Innovation in the Automobile Industry

In the 1900s the automobile industry was the most important and innovation industry in the USA.  But one could question if this was good for our society in the long run.  And one could question if they actually innovated.   See Russ Ackoff's 1994 speech "You see, the automobile is destroying urban life around the world..." 11 minutes mark. In the early 1900s there were few automobiles, very little infrastructure created to support the industry.  For example the road system was still designed for horse drawn wagons and the wagon wheel (remember a steal rim and wooden compression spoke wheel).  The future  US Highways , or the 1950s Interstate Highway System at the cost of $425 billion were decades and many innovations away. There was no gas service station, there were however horse stables, farriers, and blacksmiths in each town along the roads.  There was no real "road map", there was no road naming system, like was created in 1926 - the United Sta...

Case Study: Overloaders vs Slackers

Imagine two tribes, the first tribe is referred to by anthropologist as the Slackers .  The anthropologist refer to the other tribe as the Overloaders .  These anthropologist are a crafty bunch, they have devised various methods to study the tribes without the very observant members of the tribes realizing that they are the subjects of experiments.  In fact if we asked the astute tribal people if the anthropologist exist, the people would say no.  They would look at you funny and step away from you, giving you just a bit more personal space.  From the slightly safer distance the people may ask you, why would any tribe wish to have anthropologist.  What happiness could they bring to the tribe? Never-the-less, we know the anthropologist exist because we, dear reader, are pan-dimensional super intelligent creatures that do not live confined to the bounds of this page. These tribes collect berries of all types around their villages and transport thes...

Timeline of Social Networks -or- the Long Haul

I was listening to KERA's Think and they mentioned the concept of social networks.  It got me think... But the book Long Haul , is its own interesting story - A Million Miles and Counting - A Trucker's Tale . “The Long Haul: A Trucker’s Tales of Life on the Road” Did you know 41 million people move in the US a year?  Having moved a few times in my life, sometime with the Bed-Bugger 's help, this book is a great insight into that life. Author: Finn Murphy's CB handle - "U-Turn" The radio interview noted the concept of social networks in the 21st century.  What is a highway - but a manifestation of a social network - a trail across the land. a timeline using the Knight Lab Timeline JS tool kit. See Also: Social Media - Tracking its Exponential Growth  video       Social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web List of social networking websites  - Wikipedia The World's 21 Most Important Social Media Sites a...