kuniform

Wow. Today began ugly, with a traffic altercation ending with me blowing a kiss to a cop (don’t ask). Then, walking to work, a huge street sign fell off a pole, nearly hitting me. Going up the escalator, the guy in front of me dropped his security badge, which promptly slid between the escalator’s steps and the side.

It made me wonder what the hell I was doing, going to work. Short of frogs raining or a plague of locusts, it was enough signs for me, pun intended. I was tracking through Max Design’s weekly reading list and came across Dave Pollard’s article on collaborative tools and their lack of adoption. The collaborative tools article was great, and Pollard is right. There is little adoption of them, despite their huge promise. This concerns me for two reasons: 1 selfish and 1 pragmatic. The selfish one: I am trying to develop a collaborative tool now, called revizit. The pragmatic: though corporations are probably the biggest beneficiaries, anything that improves human communication is desirable, especially if it improves human understanding or our ability to survive in harmony with our planet.

And on that note, it was with surprise that I found a ton of great environmental links on Pollard’s site, including his article “The Truth About Nature: How to Save the World.” At the same time I was reading this article, and pondering whether Christians or Moslems would ever be able to accept the idea that humans are not the preeminent form of life without relationship to nature, a great 30 minute PBS series entitled “design e2” was on TV. It talked about China, and how rapidly they are adopting environmental solutions (though they still have many issues, make no mistake about it). It ended on an interesting note… A nation believing in the Tao, of life in balance and backed by totalitarian will… does it have a chance to make a difference?

It makes me hopeful, because I think this land of rabid individualism, though fun, may not survive past its adolesence to mature and realize the need for such solutions. I am always hopeful this is not the case, but I live in Chicago, a city with fairly progressive environmental policies. Does the rest of the country have this will? Do our politicians? Maybe it’s time to get with Plato and the Republic, and use music to change it? Obviously, I’m beat, and tilting at windmills. G’night!