Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category

Monday, February 18th, 2013

The Rock Is Gonna Fall On Us

The Sky is falling…The Sky is falling…

Move over you investors in Social whatever…the next big thing is coming…maybe even here…

So get your faces out of your smartphones – look up and get ready to monetize the heavens.

7,000 tons of space rock crashed down in Russia and suddenly Bruce Willis is in great demand…not really but fits my story line…but if you don’t recognize my pseudo cultural reference check this out…and see the movie…

Now – I don’t know about you – but I have been obsessed with the story.

First of all…thankfully…no one was killed…but to give this some perspective the force of the explosion was equal to 500 kilotons of TNT – when put into nuclear blast language Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by bombs with a 13-22 kiloton force – 500 – depending on where and how it landed would be devastating.

Read the story – it is the stuff of movies – flash of light – sonic booms – shattering glass – light pouring through the windows of a Church in mid-service – all it needed was Bruce – but this was real life.

And…of course…to quote Edward Lu, once an astronaut and now a Google Executive: “Wouldn’t it be silly if we got wiped out because we weren’t looking?” and – surprise – “a group of young Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who helped build thriving companies like eBay, Google and Facebook has already put millions of dollars into the effort and saw Friday’s shock wave as a turning point in raising hundreds of millions more.”

Let me be crystal clear – I am not making fun – to the contrary – in fact I am amazed that the story hasn’t trended; that there seems to be little serious interest in it and that after tomorrow it will be mostly forgotten.

Interestingly only a few months ago a group of scientists took it upon themselves to debunk the “science” behind Armageddon – the Bruce Willis movie – and they concluded that it was all bunk – Bruce could not have saved us.

Now – I don’t know how that makes you feel – but after the Russian story I’d be more impressed to know how they would save the world…

Seriously – I am not writing this to be apocalyptic or suggest survivalist activities – au contraire — I am seriously suggesting that we start looking up and around and realize that there is more going on in our world than how to monetize social activities or whether or not a disappearing photo will replace Facebook…COME ON!!!

What we call technology is simple application of technology applied to evolutionary human behavior. There are people out there trying to cure disease; end hunger and save us from the dangers of the universe – and therein maybe resides our human quest – our raison d’etre– make the world a better place to live…longer – Yes, I know we can use Twitter to do all those things…and no doubt make better latte too…

So there you have it – a real story – a real tragedy averted – and real people trying to figure out how to avoid the fate of our Dino predecessors…

So to those scientists who doubted my hero Bruce – I refer them to another hero of mine:

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible.”
Arthur C. Clarke

So who knows…

And for those of you who don’t believe any of this:

“Look for the stars, you’ll say that there are none; Look up a second time, and, one by one, You mark them twinkling out with silvery light, And wonder how they could elude the sight!”
William Wordsworth

And finally a thought from one of my favorites: See here.

Sadly – one final thought – it’s easy to see how jaded we can get – a story of “scores” killed in a market in Pakistan barely registers…so it goes…

What do you think?

 

Posted by David on 02/18 at 01:50 PM
  • what if? What if we could have stopped the rock - or at least slowed it down enough to allow it to orbit instead of crash? with enough preparation maybe we could have salvaged it... what was on it? in it? what is it made out of? Deep space exploration is extremely costly, but what if we just put something heavy enough ...
    Read more >
    Posted by Opher on 2013-02-18 14:59:49
Monday, January 21st, 2013

I Had a Dream

I HAD A DREAM…

And then I woke up…

Saw the news…

Terrorism; hatred; violence…

So called “militants” who are really just criminals; so called “militants” who are really just terrorists; so called freedom fighters who don’t really believe in freedom; rights advocates who believe only in their own rights; God being used by many as the reason to kill the other; hatred limiting progress and worse regressing life and horrific acts becoming so commonplace that stupid human drama becomes top of mind; discussion and search….

Yet…

We live in a world where anything is possible. The tools we have at our disposal are being used to cure disease; increase crop yield; better predict dangerous weather; provide clean water and medical aid to all; educate the masses and level the global playing field making everything good more exponentially possible.

Today in the United States we commemorate the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King – he would have been 84 years old had he not been cut down by an assassin’s bullet – 84 and my bet is that he would have been active; digitally savvy and harnessing the best we have to make the world better.

His Dream would have been empowered and in turn would have empowered…even as it does today – but more so….

I encourage you – wherever you are and whatever you believe to spend a few minutes learning about Dr. King and a few more minutes meditating on his words. As I reviewed them this weekend I was struck by how relevant his message is not just spiritually but as a guide to living in today’s hyper-connected and ever fragmenting digital world…

I will end with a thought of his that speaks volumes to those of us who Tweet; Facebook; Instagram; Blog; Whatsapp; etc…

Listen:

“We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever effects one directly, affects all indirectly.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr – Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Does this not ring true in our digitally networked always-on world? Is this not what every single new endeavor out there today is saying and selling as they try to monetize our human behavior? And is this not the promise of all that we can do and achieve today? More meaningful than “do no evil”…if there was ever a single credo for our world today…a goal for us to work towards this is it.

What’s your dream?

What do you think?

 

Posted by David on 01/21 at 02:43 PM
  • Your quote resonates so deeply. Now more than ever, \We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality\. Gated communities, attempting to keep people safe, divide people into haves and have nots, and soon need bigger walls to hold back the armies of resentment. I dream of a tapestry so beautiful, useful, and flexible that the body embraces the many folds.
    Read more >
    Posted by Amanda on 2013-01-21 18:52:07
Monday, January 7th, 2013

What’s In A Screen?

Big screens?

Giant big screens?

Hugely large big screens in 3-D?

Smarter phones?

iOS, Android, Windows 8…telepathy?

Bluetooth-connected feet warmers…?

What will it be?

I’m off to the annual convocation of fortune-telling and retail planning called CES – the Consumer Electronics Show – held every year in Las Vegas at the beginning of the New Year, followed immediately by the Adult Entertainment eXpo…HMMMMMMM.

I have been going to the show, for inspiration and crystal ball anecdoting – for many years – and have watched it turn from a buying fest for retail stores to a sort of “Digital Futures” showcase and forum for the communications industry – with participants like Google, Facebook, AOL and Twitter….not to mention package goods companies and agencies of all sorts.

And, in an interesting development, this year I see that two of the opening keynote events, having been dominated by Microsoft and Ford for a number of years, have been returned to the manufacturers and will be given by Panasonic and Samsung – with a Qualcomm keynote bridging the world of product and delivery of content. HMMMMMM.

All of which leads me to the recent news about Google in the US not really being evil – wheeew, I was worried about my photos in Picasa; the endless and mindless debate about social and shopping – get over it, it’s in our DNA; and the continued confusion around TV, television and something called video content and screens – and I classify this as more wasted debate, but more on wasted debates in coming weeks….

And of course the growing obsession with “Big Data” – not just data – and the current soul- searching as to why we can’t seem to really blow the lid off retail with its use in digital channels – although the endless number of companies that are basically tracking and selling the same data might provide some clue (sidebar: I use a software detector to alert me to who is checking on me on any given page I land on – and just from the past hour as I pulled together my thoughts and material to write – here is a taste:  Right Media, DoubleVerify, DoubleClick, Turn, Quantcast, AdNexus, AddThis, Comscore, Facebook, Google Analytics, FetchBack, Outbrain, Interclick and on and on).  By the way, I bought nothing recommended – nor did I click through to anything I wasn’t primarily looking for – which calls to mind that Google says:

No interest categories are associated with your ads preferences so far.
Your demographics:
Age: 25-34
Gender: Female

I wonder if they share those data points when they sell my data….HMMMMMMM.

So here is my question as I begin a series around CES and such – what is it all about? Content? Data? Screens? Operating Systems? Devices? Digital whatever????

If I were really cynical…if I were really cynical I’d say that it’s really all about the advertising I can sell…funny, that – the oldest model in a world that purports to be all about the newest of models….

And I’d argue the reason we are so confused and have so many meaningless debates is because our purpose and models are not clear, in that I’m not really sure who they benefit – and please don’t tell me the consumer.

A thought from the ultimate Renaissance model changer…listen:

“Make your work to be in keeping with your purpose.” Leonardo da Vinci

If our purpose…read CES… is to sell more advertising, then our “work” will reflect that …read work as what it is you will be able to buy and use to access that advertising, and yes….maybe some associated content….hate to be cynical – but so it goes.

Hopefully our purpose is greater than that and ultimately – we the users will benefit as we should – with connectivity, content and ease of use to do what we want – when we want – where we want – paid for fairly and without intrusion.

And what about the confluence of two of the oldest and most successful models in the world showcasing back to back – mere coincidence????

What do you think?

 

 

 

Posted by David on 01/07 at 07:46 PM