All my life I've been interested in dystopias. Firstly post-nuclear annihilation dystopias as I grew up in the 70s and read books far beyond my age group. Then Crichton's "science-gone-wrong" dystopias in book and film form. 2000AD ethnosectarian block-wars and quasi-religious cults. Since the millennium, biohazard/pandemic/pathogenic dystopias. I suppose I've waited all my life for the collapse. Now I think that for the most part T.S.Eliot had it right in The Hollow Men. "Not with a bang but a whimper". I might not have to wait that much longer.
Wonder if they keep a tally of how many times you would have had one of these verboten corrections, and the overall doubleplusungood rate for you, given your total number of text messages.
In a way this hardware shortage/price situation may come to be a helpful driver of efficiency and novel approaches. A lot of the 1980s demoscene guys came from countries where hardware was scarce and expensive, and it drove a lot of technical creativity.
Human looks around office. Single access-controlled door. Windows obscured by blinds. Suspended ceiling with lighting panels. Short sightlines due to desk partitions.
Shudders and turns back to the screens and the work. Can't leave yet.
I too was thinking of how we’ve also lost our way and seem to be completely in the dark and unable to even realize what’s wrong and how to solve the problems. We are just continuing to build the mound because that’s supposed to be our job.
Used to work in a company where every salary was disclosed for all employees. There was a constant stream of people going to their boss "why aren't I getting what [$EMPLOYEE] is getting?". Most of them didn't like the answer, and the answer was not "[$EMPLOYEE] negotiated better". There were in fact clear milestones, competencies, responsibilities, and most significantly... for want of a better word... "campaign ribbons" that [$EMPLOYEE] had earned, that the eager junior would need to earn in order to get to that salary. Many of these decided they didn't want to acquire them.
Publishing individual salaries is a stupid way to do it. Instead publish salaries for the title/level. It's far easier to justify why one employee is
"senior" and another is "associate". Even more so when there's a well defined career ladder with expectations at each level.
UK high streets have been in some kind of decline (IMO) for decades now. Long before online shopping, COVID and its repercussions, and the current wave of street crime (phones, watches) and front businesses (vape and phone repair shops hiring dozens of "skilled" workers on visas... to work in a tiny cupboard unit with implausible turnover). Even when a new "luxury" apartment block is constructed, the retail units often remain vacant for years before being occupied by a constantly changing list of tenants, none of which seem to be able to make a success of it. The nursery becomes a dojo, which becomes a social enterprise cafe, which eventually becomes an estate agent, which then closes.
Rents are high, parking difficult, the products undifferentiated (carbon copy list of the same 15-20 chain franchises), not unique. After all of that, I'll assume prices are no better and may be worse than online retail.
I'm not sure what the answer is, as retail is not my area of expertise. However I think that if there is a solution it will have something to do with people, community, and offering a specifically local experience. Not one which is purely a chore, and I think it will involve much more than just "convenience".
Does this say something about innovation requiring only very few innovators (and a lot of more ordinary "sweat workers"? Meaning, so long as the US can pick out, or grow a few innovators, that's fine. It's enough. No need to elevate the mass? A sort of innovators take on Great Man theory? Sincere question/point incase anyone was wondering.
It's plausibly the other way around. Have the best educational system in the world and you can't get anywhere when your economic system is based on politburos and cronyism.
Also notice that the educational system getting dumbed down operates on a generational timescale. If you screw it up for the 10 year olds, it'll still be decades before they're the ones in charge.
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