Henry Phish

So now we’ve built a culture that has survived the tech boom and moved into what could only be described as a Utopian Social Trend. People want people, not just machines, not just things, not just cool facades. The general sense I get looking at television, pop-culture, the news, and just the people around me is that people want community.

If you look at current trends in the online world, we see Second Life and MySpace as two of the largest examples of growth in online communities. Here people can gather online and interact. If they so choose they can even meet.

Sit down restaurants and cafes have begun popping up on every street corner from Minneapolis to Timbucktoo. In the last five years I’ve seen several community revitalization projects go up in the Twin Cities area. In each case, dining establishments have been the focal point of the development. Like the kitchen at your friends house party, these establishments are natural points of congregation for people to meet, talk, and socialize. They are also a strong indicator of both economic and social factors currently at play in the United States. People have more money to spend on eating out and are making a bigger point of doing so than ever before.

Further, the media has picked up on this trend as well. Television depicts peoples want for a larger world community in shows such as “Extreme Makeover: Home Addition”, and “the Biggest Loser”. Even Oprahs, “The Big Give” was a failed attempt in the same vein. These shows are an example of peoples need for community, a way to self identify by comparing oneself to others, and a hope to make the world a better place to live.

Even corporations have jumped on the bandwagon. NBC the other day did a whole weeks campaign on keeping things green. Shows such as The Office and 30 Rock depicted the studios efforts to influence peoples ways of thinking on the environment, as well as their own commitment to stewardship. Plus we get to see David Schwimmer dressed up as Greenzo in a power mad rampage to save the environment and a cameo by Al Gore…both are hilarious.

Companies such as Best Buy and Target often have volunteer days for their employees to spend the day cleaning up the community. They sponsor charity classic golf tournaments. They also sponsor community projects such as United Way and Urban Ventures. While it could be argued that these are just tax write offs or less than subtle attempt to win over community approval for their failings, without employees backing these programs and customers demanding these programs, none of it would ever have happened in the first place.

It’s this awareness of the larger world that really drives the economy today. Because people are influenced by the media, are better educated, and have greater social incentives to argue for social change, companies have to be more aware of their customers and employees wants and needs than ever before. Without a greater effort to meet these demands, companies risk failure at the hands of the community as a whole and are deemed socially ineffective.

I read an article on Yahoo the other day about a man in Japan who died of overwork. The official cause of death was ischemic heart disease, which is essentially a heart attack. I’d never actually thought about it before, but it kind of makes sense that one could die from working too hard. In this case, the man had been working 80 hour weeks for over two months while under severe pressure as the head engineer developing the Toyota Camry Hybrid. This isn’t exactly the Dickensonian era, most of us aren’t working in sweat shops, but putting in 70-80 hours a week takes it toll after a while.

Having put in a few 70 hour shifts myself in the last few years, I can tell you it isn’t for the feint of heart. As one friend of mine commented, “You could never get an American worker to put in that kind of overtime. The unions would have a field day.”

The sad thing about all of this is that this event is so common in Japan that it actually has a name, karoshi; literally translated as “death from overwork.”

Japanese Man, 45, Died of Overwork

CBS News Video

I have an article coming up in a couple of weeks that touches briefly on the iPhone as well as other Apple products, so I’ve been looking around and doing some research, which just happens to coincide with the launch of the new iPhone G3. It looks like an interesting product, and like most Apple products these days, it tends to set the bar for products in it’s category.

Looking around at all the different reviews, it’s funny to see how negative most of them have been in the last few weeks leading up to the launch. On the whole, most of the reviewers seem to be looking for a completely new product, which doesn’t really fit with Apples traditional marketing plan; basically releasing a really cool product that everyone jumps on, then release the low cost dumbed down version as well as the up scale, though slightly cheaper alternative. Then, charge the heck out of the consumer with services. It’s something they’ve made a killing at with products such as iTunes and their Mac OS X. It’s a tried and true methodology that has worked for everyone from Intel to Pepsi and it isn’t going away any time soon.

Anyway, getting back to the iPhone G3 itself, to see a more well rounded review than the ones mentioned above, check out:

Newer, Faster, Cheaper iPhone 3G

According to an article by Sally Buzbee from the Associated Press, Iraq has stepped up pressure on a timetable for the withdrawal of US troops. The withdrawal is specifically linked to Iraq resuming security responsibilities for all 18 of it’s provinces, with 9 provinces already under Iraqi control. After that, the countries security situation would be evaluated every 6 months for 3 to 5 years to decide when US troops would pull out completely. At this time, the handover of the final 9 provinces have no turnover date, which gives the US some flexibility in how it handles troop withdrawals.

This is a good step, as it indicates Iraq’s growing confidence in its ability to secure itself. The main issue with pulling out of Iraq has always been their lack of infrastructure. With warring factions a constant threat to people on the street, police and hospitals in short supply, utilities such as water and electricity nearly non existent in some areas, and an economic structure just scraping by, it’s difficult to imagine Iraq being self sufficient without a stable governing body in place.

With current violence levels having fallen to their lowest point in the last 4 years, and with the latest statement from the current parliament, it’s becoming clear that Iraq is beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. What their statement says about the Iraqi government is that we can and will police ourselves, and that’s a good thing to see after so many years of war.

So now we have a problem. Who are all these people?

Every day you interact with people. Over the phone, on television, email, and in person. Ideas, thoughts, philosophes, and problems are everywhere. There is so much information, and so many people telling it to you that it becomes impossible to make sense of it all.

As Ashton Kutcher is so fond of depicting in his socially provocative show “Beauty and the Geek,” peoples views of social hierarchy are often ruled more by their perception than any actual physical limitations.

So what are our perceptions?

The truth is, that this is a very large topic…much larger than I want to cover here…but on the whole, perceptions of sexuality, intelligence, cultural upbringing, and religion all carry with them a certain amount of archetypal belief model that is easily passed between people.

Everyone knows what a Catholic is, or a black person, or a gay person, or a geek, or a Mormon. Some of these archetypes are considered social norm, while others are considered social fringe. These belief systems can change from culture to culture and people group to people group, but within any given society there tends to be a social norm that most people can agree on.

So now, with the death of tech, we’ve had a fundamental change in the fabric of this social norm. Where once the term geek symbolized a social dysfunction, post tech boom, the geek lifestyle, as shown by its rise in popular culture: movies, literature, and television, has become the social norm.

So how does that change our perceptions?

The term geek affectively becomes meaningless.

This is a bit of a misnomer, since our definition hasn’t fundamentally changed, but the scope of how it is viewed by the general population has. If the term only covered five people with distinguishing characteristics before, it now covers fifty with several other, less definable characteristics. Effectively, we’ve watered down the terminology to fit a larger group of people.

So what does this mean?

People have become more aware of their environment and the people around them. Though with a less defined view of those they encounter on a daily basis. It makes the question, “Who are these people?” more difficult to answer, since the basis of our conclusions has taken on a more abstract context. In simplest terms, just because someone wears glasses doesn’t mean that he or she is a nerd… However, cause and effect relationships have become more important as our context broadens, since without our standard definitions to fall back on, people are forced to deal with their current situation as opposed to relying on preconceived notions. For instance, if I hurt someone physically or emotionally, how does that affect them? How does that effect me in return?

So what is the ultimate result of this shift in the world view?

Social affectedness.

I’ve had a lot of contact over the years with children and adults with Asperger’s Syndrome. Talking with them, I’ve always wondered what this disease was all about, but I’ve never really taken the time to ask questions. When I stumbled across this documentary about David Jordan, it was interesting to see his perspective on the illness. People with the disease are generally mildly autistic. They have difficulty interpreting emotions like normal people do, which affects how they socialize.

Anyway, David’s take on the illness deserves a spot on the blog. Check it out:

This video is very pretty. I like the split screens. It would be fun to make something like this sometime.

It’s interesting to see how complex factors interact to create new business opportunities for aspiring companies as well as new trends in how people and companies spend their money.

Examples of these trends can be seen in the article: How to Guard Against High Gas Prices. It’s key points are a new company called MyGallons.com, a website that lets you pre-buy gas at a flat rate, and investing in stocks that tend to rise along with the price of gasoline.

As listed in the article, MyGallons.com makes their money less on the gas and more on the $30 yearly membership fee, so near as I can tell it sounds like a pretty good deal. With the constant threat of gas price hikes driving people crazy at $4 a gallon anyway, you could easily save a few dollars in price fluctuations over the course of a year.

The article also suggests investing in stocks that rise with the sale of gas such as oil companies and companies that indirectly benefit from these high costs, such as railroads, an economical alternative to trucks for moving freight. I myself need to start using my credit card that gives me money back for buying gas; I have the feeling I’m going to need it.

Update: World must brace for oil beyond $150 a barrel

This song would have been great if Billy Joel had done it.

Pink Floyd meets the Beetles…this song is like a travesty. Ritchie Daggers Crime by the Poises.