On The Margins

Wednesday September 15, 2004

[ Web ] Weblogging is not a panacea, particularly in politics

Some webloggers are prone to the fallacy that weblogging is a panacea, specially in the political arena.

I had to post some comments on this in response to one of Dan Gillmor's recent notes.

Despite some people's conviction (see Howard Rheingold) that cybercommunities could improve democracy, the jury is still out. We had an enormous number of cybercommunities, many of a political kind, in the period just preceding March of 2003 (when compared to what we had before 1995), and yet, a war most unjustified and unpopular at an international scale still took place despite all the weblogs blasting it.

I've written about this issue from different angles before: 1 and 2.

2004-09-15 22:42:06.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.

[ Sun Microsystems Inc. ] The Network is the Computer

In my mind, there's no more revolutionary concept in computing, networking and information technology than the motto which Sun coined in many of its corporate PR campaigns: The Network is the Computer. The origin of the motto, within Sun, remains unknown to me, but I would sure like to discover it by some piece of corporate archaeology. (I'm sure we have our un-official, as well as official, archaeologists here who know the answer.)

I can even imagine a new PR campaign based on the motto--a TV advertisement perhaps: A large number of sleepy and tired workers in cubicles are running routine errands of the most stifling kind; the beautiful jumble of the New York skyline can be seen in close view and is visible through the wall-length windows but no one is paying any attention to it; a rumor begins to spread from a remote corner of this vast room; "The Network is the Computer," whispers someone as if awakened with new life; as the "rumor" spreads throughout the room (the building and the town, in the later frames), the mood swings to jubilation and true excitement--the revolution is here. The last frames focus on a person who, the audience can guess, may have something to do with the rumor--a young engineer with a Sun T-shirt on. [That would be a cool ad ! Perhaps, I should receive some sort of compensation for designing it! (Please excuse my indulgence. My only sin is that my father was an advertising executive in Iran in the mid 1970s, and he did take me to work a few times.)]

Many others, including Tim O'Reilly, have opined on the motto.

To me, it has an almost esoteric meaning, and I'm fond of such esoterism:

• The only computer that matters is the network.
• The network is equivalent to one giant computer with multiple entry points. Ultimately, it is equivalent to a single Turing machine. (Or is it? What about external, interacting "machines". Surely, their purpose could not be modeled as merely random.)
• The only computing that matters is the one that make the network more effective and efficient.
• Those that claim the desktop to be the (or a?) computer have gotten it totally wrong.

To you, I'm sure the motto could mean something quite different, but if it could mean different things to different people within Sun, how could it be a component of its corporate identity or its organizational purpose? The answer is probably that, in fact, there's a great deal of commonality in how people at Sun understand the motto: The Network is the Computer.

2004-09-15 12:30:53.0 -- Comments [1] ; Permalink ; Trackback.
computers networks sun

[ Economics ] Only the Resourceful Survive

I drove my daughters back from El Camino Youth Symphony violin practice tonight and was wondering why we could not simply and conveniently ride a train home.

We were driving in my (still quite inefficient) compact European car, and with two additional passengers, I had the luxury of driving in the carpool lane. I don't often get to ride in the carpool lane. So, I was quite surprised when I kept passing the many, many SUVs in the non-carpool lanes, each with a single driver inside.

What an odd sight!

My immediate thought was whether we could claim to have an efficient economic organization in the Bay Area? I don't think so. (Given equal purchasing power, it still takes me less time and effort, per transaction, to buy a certain quantity of yogurt in Tehran, where I visit my grandmother, than it does in San Jose, where I live with my family.)

Note that I'm not criticizing SUV owners, drivers or buyers. People often own and use things that they believe they need. In fact, I constantly toy with the idea of owning an SUV. (It could make life much easier.) What I'm questioning is the organizational aspects that help drive and accentuate such needs at a larger level.

According to Chester Barnard, an organization has to be efficient or effective to survive. The more an organization lasts, the more efficient and effective it will have to be to continue surviving. Does Barnard's maxim hold about national or regional economies? It seems to me that it does to a very significant degree.

In the long run, only the resourceful organizations will survive. The wasteful ones are most likely to disappear, and disappear they will quite quickly.

2004-09-15 00:07:23.0 -- ; Permalink ; Trackback.