I’m starting to miss Sydney. It’s probably the time of year. Blue sky, the ocean, warm air, and a quick swim before work. Or maybe it was the delayed and overcrowded 6.14 train to London Bridge a few days ago. Talk about a load of wet, grey and rather depressed looking people. And what’s with the frantic typing at 6.14am? What’s that important?
The ferry commute across Sydney Harbour was much nicer, especially the day that the ferry was late because we stopped to look at a whale. On the other hand it was snowing this morning and the nearby hills looked a bit like the Alps, albeit in a rather squashed form.
I was in Paris recently for the day (one upside of living in Europe!). Been thinking about privacy in a networked age. Malcolm Rifkind, a former British Government minister, was on the train (last week it was Sophie Ellis Baxter on the plane). It occurs to me that real time reporting of where well-known people are via Twitter and Facebook must reprint something of a security risk. If someone doesn’t like you…!
Anyway, I am no longer on the train and neither is Mr Rifkind. Almost out of the woods work-wise too, so I’ll be posting the second part of my scenario planning tips shortly. I’m also working on what might be a quite nice post on the death of quiet humility at the hand of exhibitionist individualism.
I’ve also written something (on the train) about innovation, which is a change from the future. Best of all, it was written totally out of my head with no reference back to previous thinking or published material. It’s also just a few words, no images of tricky graphics. I must try doing this again some time.
Anything for you today, dear reader? Not really, although I did hear a great quote last week about 217,000 people sitting down for dinner tonight that weren’t around (i.e. alive) this morning. It was part of what Lester Brown was saying about overpopulation in Milan. Somehow it was so much more real than talking about seven point something billion people – and rising – on the planet. I must admit that I totally disagree though. I’m getting a bit fed up of people saying that 7 billion is a real problem.
This is a very old and very tired argument that dates back to at least the 1700s and roughly says that because population (and economic growth) keeps on growing we are doomed because the planet is finite. Nonsense.
We are still around as a species because we are smart. We usually leave things too late, but history would suggest that we eventually invent our way out of any trouble that comes our way. Also, remember that the more people there are the more brains there are to solve any problems. Also, don’t forget that the reason there are 7 billion people around is not because we selfishly breed like rabbits, rather it is because we no longer drop dead like flies. Overpopulation, if such a thing exists, is due to a revolution in healthcare and this should be celebrated.
That’s far too much name-dropping for one post. I will return tomorrow as a more secretive, self-deprecating introvert hopelessly trying to sell to you yet another new book (today is the UK launch of The Future: 50 Things You Really Need to Know). But you probably knew that.
PS. Digital humiliation. The woman on the train next to me today was listening to an audio version of Fifty Shades of Grey. Only so was the rest of the carriage. She hadn’t pushed her headphone jack in far enough (possibly) and whilst the story was being privately read to hear through her headphones it was also being loudly told to the rest of the carriage via her built-in loudspeaker. We all listened for about 20-seconds and then someone pointed out to her that some passages could prove a little embarrassing.
