I am curious

The Death of Knowledge

I spend a considerable amount of time in London’s fine fleet of black cabs.  During my 11 years in London I’ve marvelled at this unique band of men and women’s ability to navigate their way round this non-linear city and deposit me at, what often seemed to me to be, obscure destinations.  The source of their internal GPS ability is commonly known as– the knowledge – a process through which all aspiring drivers are required to develop a detailed knowledge of the 25,000 streets within a six mile radius of Charing Cross, with a more general knowledge of the major arterial routes throughout the rest of London.

As I departed Paddington Station yesterday I duly informed the driver of my destination and watched him input the address to his dashboard mounted GPS system.

I wondered… is this another example of world changing technology in action? Will GPS systems sound the death knell for the "knowledge"? 
And will we mourn the loss of those moments of discovery when a cabbie traverses a route that by-passes London’s arterial dullness and exposes the idiosyncratic streets you’d otherwise never witness.   

In The Internet We Trust?

Recently AOL in the UK ran a new campaign asking the question; “Is the internet a good thing or a bad thing?”

It’s funny, just a few years back whether we lived in villages, towns and cities, we had our networks, our communities, the communities we trusted.

They were our reference point for life. If we need help we knew where to turn, if we needed advice we knew whom to ask and if we didn’t know who to ask we were lost.

So it’s an irony that today I feel more trusting in the advice I gain on the Internet than that available within my local network or  community.

Everyday I find myself bound more inexorably to the global network   than the day before, an open source wonder world of advice and help.

I love it. Sorry AOL.

Keep it real...hmmmmh

Charles Leadbeater penned a thought-provoking article in the New Year’s Day Observer newspaper. His article “Keeping It Real…the New Luxury” Leadbeater highlighted the changing definition of “luxury”.  Traditional expressions of luxury have been the preserve of the aristocracy and mega-rich and desired by those of lesser wealth to aid their escape from the real world.

This got me thinking. Historically “a luxury experience “ was defined by what money could buy.

In our fast paced, urban, branded world maybe true luxury will be defined by what money can’t buy and by what we will value more and more; namely time and space.

But then again maybe inimitable economic laws will kick in and time and space will become purchasable commodities, just like carbon emissions.

Funny world this.