Skip to main content

Crowds no more?

 I do not mean in places like India or Indonesia.  There it will take more than a mild pandemic to knock off sizeable chunks of humanity to have a dent on human density.  I am talking about venues or areas where you would assume people gathered voluntarily or not.

Take traffic.  The much maligned idea in developed cities anywhere in the world.  Or on the highways that bring this mass of vehicular flow into them.  Humans evolved to create it.  Too many people want to arrive or leave certain locales by their own choosing. Going to work or home or to play.  Traffic everywhere.

Or movies or plays or stadia or concerts.  Take any instance where we would normally choose to gather in quantities and have a go at whatever the going was meant for.  Covid has put it in perspective. It could be a good thing.

Most of the human movement in the post industrial world to me has been meaningless for the most part.  A marketing machine gone crazy wanting to drive commerce through herd mentality.  Remember wanting a cold beer (overpriced fizz) along with a hot dog (aggregated meats of unknown or dubious origin) just because the guy in the seat next to you ordered it and it smelled good?  Be it some ball game or a similar crowded venue.  Same for team merchandise or what have you that people like to throng to get.

Now we are realizing that it may not have been worth it after all.  Just the idea that some Greek letter variant of a deadly pathogen could jump and start swimming in your ariel track wreaking havoc on your anatomy is not a picnic.

Sweating sapiens in close proximity do not smell good either.  Neither is it predictable what they may do at any given instance of excitement, good or bad.  And then there is the traffic - getting in and out of anywhere. 

Cinemas or other attractions like national parks and what were once quiet spots to reflect are all bearing the brunt of this.  Cities like Rome and Venice saw peak tourism and many hated it.

So chapter 2.  

Tokyo Olympics is the largest franchise to go audience free for all games.  Watching streaming content is exponentially higher than before.  Idea is now to stay home for the most part and indulge in one off adventures that are not too publicized.  On occasion go and enjoy a meal with close friends or just revel in the solitude.  I know the sell sell -its a Sale - crowd is not too happy.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On the go(zay masta) in Japan again

Cool cat the Japanese are Tokyo at dusk  My second visit to this land of the rising sun after almost a decade. Back then clearly I was wet behind the ears product manager and likely didn’t pay attention to all (efficient) things Japanese. But today I did and of course continue to be impressed. It is as much the obvious stuff like on time travel that is both clean and comfortable and all that which makes it possible. The impressive landmark and landscapes that these humans have put together despite their cramped (or because of it) surroundings and precarious geological conditions could amaze a novice architect among us. But it’s also the little things that someone had to think about which have a phenomenal impact on day to day lives that make the Japanese stand apart. Below are few random examples- 1. Providing a very fine machined wooden toothpick in every packet of wooden chopsticks. The said chapsticks are simply set on the To Go counter of any food vendor/ convenience store wher...
Post a Comment
Read more

A few good books

 On an informal mission to read one book a week as long as the eyes allow for such ambition. Fiction or non is not important as long as it entertains and /or educates. To that end the past few weeks have brought a bounty in the form of some wonderful and then not so engaging literature. Among the notables are - Non fiction category: 1. Good arguments by Bo Seo (how to handle a dispute or debate the most efficient way possible) 2. Genesis by Eric Schmidt (and former US Secy of State Henry Kissinger, who recently passed) - how AI might affect our lives as we know it 3. One in a billion - Zarna Garg (an autobiographical look at an Indian born American woman with a bindi narrated in a standup format - yes it is at times cliched but still funny) Fiction: 1. Personal by Lee Child (a vigilante story with Jack Reacher the giant, nomad protagonist of Child's novels goes hunting for a sniper) 2. Ramayana unraveled by Ami Ganatra (she might disagree about it being a work of fiction but oh wel...
Post a Comment
Read more

Back in DC

This time for a tech conference in the realm of what else? AI. But applied to an oft neglected space called Knowledge Management. The latter is a community of practice that focuses on analyzing, organizing and making available reams of data that have been gathered over time by various functions within an organization for anyone in the company to utilize. This function or process is ripe for applying AI agents (or agentic AI framework) and optimize for better outcomes. It was informative. More rewarding was getting acquainted with folks who practice this craft as well as learning of what they see in the corporate or public sectors. Since the venue was Washington DC it also afforded me the chance to take evening strolls albeit the weather was trying. With wind chill in the single digit it still is a glamorous place to perambulate through history absorbing what this country has been through since its founding days. I was able to visit the place Lincoln was killed along with his monument t...
Post a Comment
Read more