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June 8, 2003April 21, 2012 by Brendon J. Wilson

Wrong Way, Humanity!

There have been a few “innovations” I’ve seen over the last couple of weeks that have made me scratch my head and doubt humanity’s intelligence. Despite our success in paddling against the universe’s current of increasing entropy, every so often it seems we decide to do a U-turn and see if we can outrun the current and hasten our doom.

First up: Flexplay‘s dumbfounding EZ-D technology. The idea of EZ-D is simple: you buy an EZ-D DVD title for really cheap (like the cost of a movie rental), and once the package is opened the DVD slowly decays until it is unreadable by a DVD player. Why? So that the consumer doesn’t have to return the DVD, like they would if they had rented the DVD. Great, eh? Heaven forbid we have to get off our fat asses, hop in our SUV to return a video. Why bother using a DVD again and again, when we can use it once, and throw it away?

Second offender: the Browning Automatic Bicycle Transmission. Admittedly, it’s kind of a neat idea – except for the fact that it augments a green transportation technology with a computer and of course, a nice hunk of batteries. Come on! It’s a bicycle! It’s not like it requires a license to figure out how to operate the gears on a bike. Is this the kind of problem we developed a big meaty brain to solve?

My only consolation in the face of these abominations came from an author of children’s fiction, JK Rowling. This week it was announced that the latest installation of the Harry Potter series will be printed on 100% recycled paper. So, to summarize, the score for slowing our descent into oblivion stands as follows: advanced science – 0, authors of Wiccan children’s fiction – 1.

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May 21, 2003April 21, 2012 by Brendon J. Wilson

Natural Capitalism

I’ve been reading Natural Capitalism on the bus to and from school for the last week. Wow. What a great read. From the opening chapter, an analysis of cars and how simply reducing their weight would open a world of compounding improvements, Hawken et al. are captivating. Though the book goes to effort of supporting all of its propositions with numerous scientific references, the underlying premise is simple: avoid unnecessary use of natural capital through application of existing technology and a little careful thought.

For example: the book starts with analyzing how reducing a car’s weight would eliminate the need for a big engine, a transmission, and power steering and brakes, all while reducing manufacturers’ costs. In short, manufacturers could be making gobs of money if they just addressed the weight problem using existing carbon fibre technology.

It was with my mind in this frame of thought that I saw this month’s issue of Vanity Fair, adorned by a suspiciously thin Drew Barrymore. Closer examination revealed, of course, Drew’s thighs had been assisted by an airbrush. And then it hit me: how many people out there are working industriously to create cleavage, thin thighs, and cover creases at this very moment? In fact, how much labour is expended in general to falsify the image of what a man or woman should appear? Are we so vain?

Apparently we are. Even my own experience in the MBA confirms it. Normally, I’m a jeans-and-t-shirt kind of guy; after all, since when did university call for anything else? But every time I wear something more formal to school for an interview or other event, I get an unusual number of comments from my classmates. The comments themselves aren’t a simple “You look good today”, they’re usually something more. There’s a hint of something Pavlovian to their voice, like they’re about to pet my head, give me a biscuit and say “Who’s a good boy, huh? Who’s a good boy? You are! Yes, you are!”

Honestly. Could we get over the issue of image, listen to Hawken et al., and focus on some problems that really matter? No? Then could you at least convince my classmates to stop petting me and giving me biscuits when I wear a suit? No?

Fine then, be that way.