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Peter Cochrane's Hard Drive 2000 Now it's your turn... EVERY year sees my life click up another notch or two on the ratchet of progress pushed along by the bow wave of technology. After 10 years of mobile electronic working you might think I would have achieved perfection with everything on screen, no paper, instant communication, and access everywhere at the click of a key. Well, not quite, but I would be much closer to perfection were it not for large groups of people and organisations all over the planet dragging their feet and hanging on to the past. Despite all my efforts the amount of paper arriving at my home and office seems to be increasing in some last gasp frenzy to overpower my machinery and me. In airports and restaurants there also seems to be some plot afoot to hide all the power and phone outlets, while the mobile radio spectrum becomes ever more crowded an flaky. And as for business and home life, it has all merged to become inseparable, and is getting even busier. No doubt about it, I need more time, but as each year goes by I seem to have less, and certainly have less mileage on my life clock. So I have compiled a list of 20 basic objectives for 2000 and beyond to help me become more productive, and I hope, a little less frustrated. I hereby resolve to: (1) Refrain from automatically dispatching all paper to the shredder and waste bin; instead, I will return to sender with a note explaining that I cannot cope or find the time to deal with paper in any form, but that an electronic communication will receive an instant reply. (2) Avoid using paper-based fax, and revert to this medium only for those things that will fit on my e-fax screen. (3) Attend even fewer management, political and social meetings. (4) Not sit in front of the TV or listen to the radio at random times in the vain hope of chancing upon something vaguely interesting or relevant. (5) Minimise my travel schedule and spend more time at home. (6) Devote more time to education and young people. (7) Start and assist even more new .com businesses. (8) Say NO to the bureaucrats and bureaucracy more often. (9) Take even more business, financial, prediction and opinion risks. (10) Drive my car less. (11) Exercise far more. (12) Eat less, drink less, and sleep more. (13) Think, listen and observe more. (14) Streamline my emails and other forms of communication even more. (15) Get far more technology references before buying boxes and applications that lead to disappointment and a lot of hassle. (16) Upgrade my computers and software more regularly. (17) Become more self-sufficient in supporting my own technology needs and abilities. (18) Be even more open and free with information, opinion and communication. (19) Be slightly more wary of strangers on the net. (20) Change the nature of my job and contribution at ever-shorter intervals. If I can just realise a few of the gains from those, I may just see my life improve as I go into the 21st century. But these are only stopgaps and I really do need more organisations and people to change in order to see a significant improvement. A tall order you might think, but it will happen, it is inevitable if we are to progress as a society and a species. We have no choice as the ratchet clicks on at an increasingly fast rate, and the clever trick is to figure out how to stay ahead of the game. Peter Cochrane holds the Collier Chair for the Public Understanding of Science & Technology at the University of Bristol. His home page is: |
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