Brad wrote:
> As far as I am concerned there has been no
> computer revolution, and certainly no Internet revolution,
> so long as almost everybody has to drive (or take Metro North)
> a loong distance, wasting lots of energy and lots
> of precious *life time*) COMMUTING.
Right! And much time is wasted not only during driving, but even during
*waiting* in traffic jams: According to a recent study by the Swiss DOT,
33.6 million hours are wasted per year in traffic jams in this small country
(25M in suburbs/cities + 8M on highways). Assuming usual wages, the cost
of traffic jams amounts to CHF 1.23 billion (~US$ 0.8 billion) per year --
that's 0.4% of the GDP.
Compare this to $114 billion in Germany and $25 billion in UK !
Add to this
- the stress of powerlessly having to wait while being in a hurry
(without physical exercise, this strongly raises stress hormones), and
- the toxic fumes that accumulate in the cars (from the exhaust pipe
of the precedent car in the jam),
and you have a major public health crisis....
> Question: Why can't we all work from home (except for
> EMT personnel, etc.)?
>
> Answer: Because bosses like to see "asses and elbows".
Control is an important aspect of the inertia towards telework, yes.
Other aspects are the lack of "de-centralisability" of many production
processes and resources (even of corporate security against burglars etc.),
and the low degree of self-organisation of most employees -- see e.g. the
"Self-test -- Are You a Teleworker ?" at http://www.telework.ch/frageb.html
> Why not recall some words from Joseph Weizenbaum: The
> computer, by enabling old bureaucratic forms to live
> on after the quantity of data to be processed exceeded
> the handling capacity of clerks, HAS BEEN ONE OF THE
> MOST POWERFUL FORCES FOR SOCIAL REACTION IN THE TWENTIETH
> CENTURY (_Computer Power and Human Reason..._, W.H. Freeman,
> 1976).
I would say computers can act as a "flavor amplifier" in both directions:
On the one hand, computers can be used to amplify bureaucratic, oppressive
structures (IBM/Wintel flavor), *but* OTOH they can also be used to amplify
creativity and independence of individuals (Macintosh/Linux flavor).
(When Freeman wrote his book (1976), the latter flavor didn't exist yet.)
HTH,
Chris
