tomguarriello's posterous

Technological Eras

In his new book, The Nature of Technology, Brian Arthur says the following:

 An era does not just create technology. Technology creates the era.

 How can we describe the era being created by our current technologies?

 How about calling it something like "the era of meta-communication?" That is, not only does the current technological Zeitgeist center around enabling richer and more rapid communication methods, it also provides more and more powerful platforms and tools for aggregating, analyzing and annotating that communication in order to discover its deep patterns. As Arthur might put it, we may be seeing the emergence of a new communication domain, one that defines the style of our time.

 Sent from my iPhone

When 140 Just Isn't Enough

If you've been blogging for any length of time, you know that the medium enables (encourages?) you to explore ideas in a lengthy, leisurely way. Twitter, meanwhile, legislates brevity. Posterous is a kind of a Goldilocks, just-right netherland, for items that are not too long, not too short. I'm going to be traveling for the rest of the week and will be experimenting with Posterous updates. Stay tuned.

In Case You Missed It...

Wal-Mart has taken the lead in corporate environmental responsibility. 

Yup. Wal-Mart. 

I know how cool it is to either say you hate Wal-Mart or never shop there or whatever, but the fact is the company has been taking steps to combat wastefulness in key parts of the retail supply chain for several years. Now they're working to determine, and publicize, the environmental impact of every product that appears on their shelves through a universal rating system. As the New York Times put it, "consider it the green equivalent to nutritional labels." To arrive at a number, the company created a 15-item supplier questionnaire.

This is exactly the kind of leadership the retail industry needs to demonstrate to make it clear that the companies that move the most goods on the planet recognize the importance of tackling the enormous problems created by our modern lifestyles.

So, in the future, please think twice before looking down your nose at Wal-Mart and its customers. They are way ahead of their peers in moving the environmental awareness needle.