Month: July 2006

Rob has written something very interesting and has packed in his faith that a tipping point is coming. I suppose my first inclination to find this interesting is based on the fact that I have never been a tipping-pointer or a dichotomist. The world and human participation in it is too complex. But the human perception and reaction to the world often is not. Because we like to sift for clues and establish principles mainly to give us comfort and get us through the day.

You only have to look at the reaction in Canadian political blogs over the war in Lebanon to witness the drive to simplify and give oneself comfort. Canada has a large Lebanese population in the area of the bombing and shelling so the natural reaction is to distance ourselves from their Canadian-ness as the reason for the bombing is justified. So these citizens for some become “Canadians of convenience.” Both sides in the conflict have endured misery for decades but as it is too hard to carry the weight in ourselves for all of them, we pick a side and give more validity to the life and death of a baby born to one side or another…but not both. With the news this morning of the death of a Canadian soldier at a UN post under Isreali bombardment, I am now bracing to read some fool say that it was somehow the fault of the generic boogieman socialism or even the fault of that soldier at his or her post – look out for the obscenity “heh, peacekeeper“. There is no end to what one can think when one has abandoned shame in favour of the need to simplify and justify for our own comfort.

But it is not only in crisis that we see this and, if you pardon the illustrative diversion above, that is where Rob has found himself:

Until very recently, I thought that the rules of the adoption curve or the Tipping Point would apply and that eventually everyone would “get it.” I no longer believe this to be true. I see no signs of any airline other than AMR going the Southwest Culture route. I see no signs of the US or Israeli military matching their asynchronous opponents. I see no signs of the Commercial media other than Murdoch making a shift to true particpation.

Interestingly, and to continue with the tangents, the same sort of idea struck me when I was reading Brewing Up A Business by Sam Calagione of the rightfully praised Dogfish Head brewery of Delaware. Throughout the book, which is more about being an entrepreneur than about the beer, the basic question is asked “how can I make the customer happy though my product?” The thing is your product will make the customer happy and it will also not. It will not provide complete happiness as the same customer will also like other beers – even maybe PBR at certain moments – or chewing gum or watching CSI reruns or junky used cars. But that complexity is not really the interest of the entrepreneur – all that matters is that entrepreneur’s success. This means addressing the particular need of the customer…but not all need.

Back to Rob, that is why there will never be a tipping point given a slow set of changes like the internet provides – and digitization and optic fibre and other innovations of the late 20th century before it. Most people will still like postcards, the telephone and email. Many people will still like to pay cash at the grocery for milk even if they are prepared to use paypal on eBay or give their credit card to Amazon. Many will kick at the wonder that is western-style socialism which they blame for everything (including in large part their own failings of imagination) and yet rush to the emergency room with a rough cough whipping out the medicare card, demanding service now. Many will consider their own children different than those dying in the Congo or Iraq or Lebanon. Because we are too complex and have to deal with ourselves in a too complex world.

So what does this mean for Rob? It is right that some will get it as only some get anything. Everyone gets something just that much of what is gotten has no commerical, social or political value. It is what we each like because it is what we are each like. Some apparently do not even get the fact that the Blue Jays are worth disliking. But if you get all that there is a way to get ahead…and not just by getting a hat. It has something to do with accepting the inherent belief system described above and how it provides infinite choice among all the variables to grant the dignity of singularity…and the Jays sucking.