Tuesday, October 31, 2006

"Telecommunication Philosopher"

..recently I had the fortune to watch some unedited footage of the Apollo 11 coverage.  At the end of the tape there was a panel discussion with, (and I'm not kidding here):   

an editor of a newspaper
a telecommunications philosopher
and an amateur ecologist

Initially I was struck by the title "telecommunications philosopher".  A title I've never tried myself but from the shear name, one I may have been able to claim in the past.  As I listened to this 1969 broadcast I was struck at the amazing message that was being sent.  The panel focused on the ecological reasons for going to the moon.  As one would imagine the impact of automobiles on the environment was the center of the argument.  Juxtaposed against some 2006 ecological documentaries the message is shockingly similar.  Have we progressed so little in almost 40 years that we can do no more than predict the end of the automobile, and the end of nature as we know it?  Either this panel was 40 years ahead of thier time or our societies argument about the automobiles impact on the environment hasn't changed during that period.

And what is a telecommunications philosopher doing on that panel?  Was he invited to the wrong panel? After all this was 1969, DARPA was probably not really a household name.  Modem's were a bit crude at best and, let's face it the only cellular phone calls were coming from Apollo.  Then it struck me.  Tele Communications Philosopher was a Television Communications Philosopher.  So, although my interest was peaked by the mis-communication (couldn't help myself there) of what I thought was a primer on sending packets back and forth to the moon, I was reminded that our view of polution in 1969 may still be relavant today.  Much more relavant than the term "telecommunications philosopher".

-ZuCom

Monday, October 23, 2006

Consensus

"one primary key to leading is the ability to build a consensus"


...even bad leaders know that you can't lead without a support of others.


-ZuCom

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Control

Control is an illusion, mastered by fear, and held captive by risk

--ZuCom