I see a convergece of some troubling trends. First, device providers (such as Apple, Google and Microsoft) are creating devices that heavily utilize the net (smartphones, netbooks and such). On the opposite side we have the ISPs, not just the traditional hard-wire services (Comcast, Frontier, et al), but also wireless carriers (ATT, Verizon, etc). They currently need to throttle access. I see a train wreck coming as they're moving opposite ways, but critically depend on each other. Somehow, the ISPs need to build out their infrastructure (based on the assumption that the throttling is based on lack of capacity, not on blind greed). It would be great if somehow the device creators, and content creators, could find ways to share revenue with the ISPs. Clearly, such would need to be done so that net neutrality is maintained, anti-trust is ensured and such. Basically, ISPs need to have the increased demand become income, not simply expense.
Driving along in Kirkland , home of the modern yuppie, I’m passed by a new Mercedes. Lovely, silver, shiny, new, bling-bling; a part of me loaded with insecurity twinges while I purr along in my Toyota. Why? How come this is a metric of my self-esteem? Am I being unfair to myself, being upset by this train of thought and it’s influence? Consider, please, how much this viewpoint is drilled into us. Look at how often this imagery gets pushed into our faces, and how long that’s been going on. It shouldn’t surprise me, really, that I sometimes feel this way. Though my conscious values oppose this, the lingering thread of this programming has threads into the depths psyche.
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