Let’s Get To Know Each Other
Hey, thought of an interesting concept this morning. Social networking is great, especially for anti-social people like me. I mean what could be better than building relationships behind the security of a keyboard and monitor. Still, I believe so much in the power of face-to-face conversations to develop creativity and strength.
Next, our circles of relationships are relatively small. We work with the same people every day. We take our kids to the same activities and talk to the same small group of parents every day. Even if a network of relationships reaches, say, 500 people that we take active interest in, that is still a tiny percentage of the 6 billion that populate the globe.
For the majority of us that commute to our jobs each day, we might spend up to an hour in a car listening to the radio dictate the subject matter. Whether the station is Q102 or NPR, the content still gets dictated to us.
So during your next commute, look around you. Look at the other 1 million people that you could possibly reach out to. Think of the new perspectives and ideas that could be developed. There is such a rich opportunity to use that drive to and from the office to broaden horizons, develop new relationships, and make Cincinnati and even greater city to live in.
How? Let our cars know about the other cars in their proximity. Using bluetooth, or whatever technology, our cars can connect to each other and allow us to communicate with each other. Drivers can set and select personal profiles as well as set parameters around which they would like to start conversations. Couple that with in-car video, and the opportunity to develop new interests, ideas, and relationships becomes limitless. Our commutes are no longer brainless travel time to and from, but interactive value-building drives that can, at least, create some camaraderie, and at most, perhaps add to the country’s GDP with the generation of some incredible new ideas as personal networks expand exponentially.
- Andy
January 11th, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Great idea! As long as people drive carefully and not get mesmerized interacting with other drivers! Have you heard of the real time GPS? Instead of the static GPS with at most a real time traffic update, Dash is always connected. Check out http://www.dash.net
January 12th, 2009 at 8:54 am
Andy,
Good idea. I too can be anti-social. I love face-to-face conversations and social networking tool. But, the time in my car is my time. A place to escape and think. Talking to strangers on the road for me would not be my “cup of tea.”
Hope you are doing well.
Miss you around here.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Dear Andy,
You have an interesting idea, but I believe it is in contradiction to the fundamental nature of human beings. People are tribal. We are built to deal with small groups. I suspect that interacting with hundreds or thousands of different people each day, every day would be an anxiety-provoking experience or worse.
You are right that with the system you describe “the opportunity to develop new interests, ideas, and relationships becomes limitless”. But people are limited. As we say in the electrical engineering vernacular, “There is an impedance mismatch.”
Have a great day!
Regards,
Lance
January 23rd, 2009 at 5:41 pm
The Wall St. Journal had this writeup of the Detroit Auto Show where one manufacturer is researching the buddy car concept: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123212722945490841.html
January 25th, 2009 at 10:26 pm
I was just at the auto show and I completely missed that car. Bummer.
As a car guy I have to say this sounds like a real bad idea. I’m all for building communities and having conversations and I agree that part of this, but remember, you’re piloting 1.5-2.5 tons of steel, plastic, fabric and glass at over a mile a minute. Do people really need the distraction of the 5 cars in the immediate vicinity that are interested in what you are and want to connect? People on cell phones are bad enough, I’ve noticed my driving is worse on the few occasions that I talk on the phone while driving.
Drive first, network and connect later.
August 13th, 2010 at 5:35 pm
Construction Position in todays market are hard to come by and this is made even more compounded by the fact that future managers are becoming increasingly difficult to satisfy. Personally, I think that the global economy should see substantial improvements within the next fiveyears and this should make everyones financial position easier to handle.