The special report “Nomads at last” in the April 12th issue of The Economist comes with a series of articles about how mobile technology is changing the fundamental fabric of today’s society, ranging from work attitudes to the effects it may have on language evolution. Altogether a collection worth reading.
About a year ago, in small, simple, sms I had pointed out some statistics that support the notion that half of world population would be armed with a mobile device soon. Now it seems a good time to figure out what that will do to our society.
With arguments that remind me of “The Hacker Ethic“, the notion that mobile technology is blurring the line between work and private life, seems to be a persistent meme throughout the special report. The trend for many independent consultants to be able to conduct their business without the need for an office or even having to subject themselves to work from a desk in their houses, thus liberating them to roam the multiple hotspots where Internet access is readily available and the surroundings are stimulating. As opposed to telecommuters, who are forced to work from their home office, this new generation of entrepreneurs has very little concern for fixed schedules or working hours. Instead, having full access to the entire infrastructure they need to be effective from their mobile devices, working from a client site, the neighbourhood’s coffee shop or trendy collaboration spaces provides them with better options to organize their lives and feel in control.
It seems to me the notion of nomadism, as introduced by The Economist, solves an important challenge that was stated in a convenient solution: community living. With the tireless growth of cities and their incursion into green belts to satisfy the needs from citizens looking for the ideal place, suburbs seemed to have fallen into the apathetic rhythm caused by the millions of workers who were slaved to commuting. Later, a few enthusiasts figured out that they could save themselves the rush hour, but were still bound to their computers and phone lines, leading to a new kind of frustrations such as boredom, lack of stimulation from interaction with co-workers. Suburbs seemed condemned to become hosts to a wide array of dysfunctional citizens. This may have a lot to do with the fact that people need to feel part of a vibrant society that gives them a reason to work. With the adoption of tools that liberate those suburban workers from their basements and allow them to converge in third spaces within their own communities, all of the sudden the suburbs acquire an interesting, vibrant social fabric that they seemed to hide. Smart councillors may create incentives for people to stay in the area during work hours and connect with their remote co-workers. These incentives could be as simple as plenty of wireless access points or more sophisticated collaboration centres. With the proper stimulus a new generation of local nomads is likely to bring back some interesting dynamics to dormant suburbs.
For the first time in a long time I can see how suburban life has a future after all.
Listening to Duke Ellington quote Marshall McLuhan, making the incredibly deep thinking of the cultural philosopher accessible to his audience is priceless. In “the whole world is going oriental” the Duke found inspiration to create some of the most advanced jazz fusion of the 60’s by unifying themes from around the world without concern for the remix of cultural patterns.
The entire Western world, McLuhan argues, is now turning inward upon itself—in the old Oriental pattern—while the Orient “has been increasingly engaged in an outer trip, aided by Western technology.
That was back in the 60’s. More recently we could argue a very similar process has been evolving when around 200 million migrants find a new home every year. In immigrant population and the south in the heart of the north I’ve documented some of the facts and figures of this process, but what interests me today are the methods that migrants use to cope with the sudden disorientation that results from trying to build a new way of live in an unknown city.
Meet David Sasaki, a true global citizen migrating from the North to the South and finding refuge in technology:
Two months ago I was back in my old stomping grounds, Encinitas, California. […] More than anywhere else, this was home. I still knew the names of the best surfers bobbing up and down in the Pacific as they waited for the right set of waves. Years later, and I still knew all the best running trails, the most articulate columnists, the best plates at the best restaurants, and the history of nearly every beach and every block up and down the ten or so miles of coast that make up Encinitas. Subconsciously, throughout the years of my youth, I had built up my own personal Wikipedia of the history, institutions, culture, and sub-cultures that make Encinitas such a special place for so many people. I have also witnessed the changes endured by the community as home prices have tripled from around $300,000 for a coastal bungalow in the mid-1990’s to over a million dollars today. I know that I will never be able to afford a house where I grew up. Which has brought me here, to Buenos Aires, one of the few cosmopolitan cities where it is still possible to buy a house or apartment without committing oneself to eternal debt. Unlike my comprehensive knowledge of Encinitas, however, I know next to nothing about Buenos Aires. I am an immigrant here. And each new block, every cafe, every neighbor greeting me with a silent nod of the head is a story to be discovered.
His unusual journey from North to South is supported by an array of technical knowledge that will likely translate into a better integration to his new city. Not only he carries the experience from proven methods and technologies, but he is going to be in a privileged position to influence others around him that will take for granted his expertise in the area. The exchange that will result from his interaction with his new community somehow reminds me of the action of the “Orient” looking outward aided by Western technology, with the only difference that this time it will be a very curious and receptive “South”.
If only all migrants had this kind of advantage in their journeys.
Clustering of like-minded individuals is not a new idea, but new research based on the mapping of personality types reveals one very interesting trend about the group called “Open To Experience People”: they are far more distributed than any of the other groups.
In his post The Personality Map, Richard Florida presents these results in a timely manner to promote his most recent book “Who’s Your City?”. A much better explanation is given in his column on the Global and Mail:
We know that values, beliefs, and attitudes cluster geographically and are sustained over time through social interaction – that’s what defines culture. According to Sam Gosling, a psychologist at the University of Texas, and Jason Rentfrow, a psychologist at Cambridge University, these places (and their inhabitants) will also assume certain personality traits.
They refer to these as “social founder effects.” That is, people come to acquire personality traits that reflect their practices, lifestyles, and beliefs. Places that tolerate or encourage openness to experience will ultimately attract people who seek environments in which they can feel free to express themselves.
People seeking a place where they can express themselves is almost a perfect definition for the global citizen that will move anywhere around the world to find the region that better defines the core values that he/she hold true and treasure the most. This realization provides a very important argument in favor of why cities that have been welcoming to generations of migrants are now among the most important hubs for creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. As I have stated in previous posts, one of the most essential tools of the person starting a journey to a new place is a complete willingness to experience and accept a new culture without hesitation. This very same personality treat is probably, according to this research, why these same cities have evolved economies that are a model for a truly global city. Cosmopolitanism and its quest for understanding other cultures may be the key that triggers the desire to relocate to a newly discovered region of the world, but it is that same global knowledge that gives the region an important advantage as more connections with the rest of the world are created with every new individual that arrives. So, while it may be psychological characteristics what drives the clustering shown above, I believe it is the global connections that these people have what fosters a prosperous economy.
The latest book from Benjamin R. Barber, “Consumed: How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults, and Shallow Citizens Whole” presents a timely critic to capitalism, not as an economic theory, but as a flag to incite mass consumption where there are no real needs. Barber explains about capitalism:
…in the beginning of capitalism — in the 15th and 16th century — capitalism was focused on production, on hard work, on deferred gratification, on altruism. People investing and saving and capitalists acquiring wealth and keeping it in order to do further investments. All in the name of producing goods for people with very real needs and down the line making some profit from it as well. The problem is, today we have not a productivist economy but a consumer economy. And the emphasis today is not on production, but on consuming. And you’ve got a capitalism which is producing an awful lot of goods which are chasing very few needs, while real needs are going unmet around the world.
Very much in line with the previous post on the story of stuff, it seems that fixing the problem has nothing to do with a radical change of economic system but a fundamental shift in our attitudes as consumers.
The greatest documentary I’ve seen since “The Corporation” is delivered by Annie Leonard, an expert in sustainability, in a video.
The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns, with a special focus on the United States. All the stuff in our lives, beginning from the extraction of the resources to make it, through its production, sale, use and disposal, affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues and calls for all of us to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something. It’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.
Everyone should watch the full length video, but here is a quick teaser:
After watching the full video you’ll be itching to do something about it. Here is a quick summary of 10 things she suggests you can do: Power down, Waste less, Spread the word, DeTox your life, Unplug from media and Plug In the community, Drive less, Recycle, Buy Green, Buy Fair, Buy Local, Buy Used, and most importantly, Buy Less.
Mexico City is such a big city that most inhabitants would have problems defining its boundaries. Most people could probably name 2 or 3 access routes, but defining its boundaries is an exercise better left to city planners. A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to transit through a new highway connecting the East of the city with a point far to the North. This highway is so new that in most cases the view was occupied by farmed land on one side and a clear urbanized area on the other. For those who have been to Mexico City you’ll appreciate how strange this is, as the city always seems endless in all directions. In the map below, this highway is marked in red.
The further North this highway goes, the less urbanized the region is, until it connects with the main highway heading to the North. Of course, the advance of urbanization is such that it will only be matter of time before the city has surpassed this new limits. In the same map I’ve indicated in blue what is known as “Anillo Periférico” and in green the “Circuito Interior”, both high-speed avenues that were built at the edge of the once smaller city. Infrastructure has a way of attracting dwellers and making it possible to sustain edge neighborhoods.
Defining city boundaries can’t be done based on administrative divisions. Mexico City, for example spans two different states and there is absolutely no indication on the ground that you’re crossing any division. Real boundaries are probably better defined by what is practical and possible with the given infrastructure of the city. That is, if a person can make a daily commute (as hard as it is) using public transport or infrastructure, it is likely the economic output of that person contributes to the overall output of the city. Therefore the practical boundaries of a city should be defined by the availability of infrastructure nearby (subways, trains, highways).
One can only imagine what effects will better transportation systems have on urban sprawl. Are the gigantic sprawling areas often referenced by science fiction authors a necessary consequence of better and faster vehicles? Or is there a way to promote really long commutes that would effectively allow people to participate in the economy of a city without living anywhere near. Trains reaching 400 km/h are a reality and a commute of half hour could effectively take you far enough.
One thing is certain, Mexico City planners don’t share this vision as they are already delimiting the new boundaries of the city and it would seem they just picked an area where there are plenty of opportunities to urbanize. I have no doubts that people will follow. Too bad.
Do you think that foreign nations should participate in the election of American presidents?
Writer David Usborne writes Outside Influence - USA in the February 2008 issue of Monocle:
Look beyond the cliché of hidebound insularism and you quickly see that just as the rest of the world is not immune to American influences, America is not immune to the rest of the world, even in its domestic affairs.
I had already explored the cultural influence that the world exercises on the United States, but given the political strength of the super power, it would seem absurd to expect that the United States would open up to the point of allowing foreigners to exercise any kind of influence on the outcome of their elections. Nevertheless the fact is that such influence is not gained in the form of votes (at least not of the popular kind), but through lobbyists that represent the most diverse interests, from foreign countries to global corporations trying to advocate their private causes. Somehow the idea of a few global corporations paying the salaries of lobbyist that work side by side with the most influential politicians of the United States doesn’t seem as crazy as gathering a open forum of global citizens speaking their mind about who should be the leader of the United States.
However, since money is the one language that the American system understands well, let’s hope that a growing number of concerned global citizens will be able to influence their business peers in the United States and eventually state the higher goals that may lead to benefits abroad. The following table shows some of the countries already making an impact on specific regions of the United States through business deals in most cases:
