Every once in a while I pinch myself at my good fortune in being alive at this time in history, with the web making things so much easier in so many ways.
Two things happened in the last hour that reminded me of how much value people, including me, get from the web.
The first was that on Nextdoor in my area, someone reported having found a dog:
Found a little pup wandering up xxx Street. Tired and thirsty. We took him to the SPCA on 68. Animal ID xxxxxx. There is a five day stray hold starting 6/15.
The same day (today), another neighbor answered:
Thanks xxxx. xxxx belongs to our neighbor on xxxxxx St. I’ll pass the info along.
And then that neighbor wrote:
xxxx’s dad is on his way to retrieve him.
This is amazing compared to what we could do just a few years ago. Hayek’s decentralized information in action.
Just a few minutes ago, I wanted to send flowers to a woman in East Germany, er, Canada, to thank her for helping me think through how to get to my cottage in northwestern Ontario this year. She’s a fellow dual citizen whom a mutual friend told me about. Twenty-five years ago, ordering such flowers required a phone call after a laborious search for a florist. And for someone like me who can barely distinguish between flowers and flour, the descriptions of someone at the other end of the line wouldn’t have meant much. But I got on line, found a Canadian florist, looked at the pictures, ordered the flowers, and paid, all in about 3 minutes.
Pinch me. But not hard.
READER COMMENTS
john hare
Jun 16 2021 at 4:18am
Multiple similar experiences. The one that stands out is one invention idea I had in 1990 or so took months, miles, and money to track down prior art and people in the field to check it out. Now I can spend an hour writing a blog post for a comparable idea and get feedback in hours while at other work with no cash outlay. And the feedback is often better.
The ability to track down a part and order it delivered in minutes has ridiculous value compared to not being able to get it at all, or more likely never hearing about it because people I talk to don’t know about the part earlier.
I am grateful for these times, and still I wonder how people a century from now will view our current “modern” times.
David Henderson
Jun 16 2021 at 9:12am
Nice story.
Phil H
Jun 16 2021 at 9:34am
Agreed. I’ve worked with clients all over the world just via the web and email, and it’s always been simple and smooth. I remember the internet evangelists of the 1990s, and I think all of their wildest dreams have come true.
robc
Jun 16 2021 at 10:11am
Even Cliff Stoll said his mid-90s anti-internet book was wrong.
Everything he said wouldnt happen happened.
David Henderson
Jun 16 2021 at 4:01pm
The name Cliff Stoll didn’t ring a bell, so I looked it up. I loved his book The Cuckoo’s Egg, but wow, did he blow it on the internet. Here’s a quote from the Wikipedia entry:
Jon Murphy
Jun 16 2021 at 4:10pm
The number one mistake I see so many people make is underestimating human ingenuity and creativity in problem-solving.
Speed
Jun 16 2021 at 11:02am
Modern technologies give us new ways to be nice to each other.
David Henderson
Jun 16 2021 at 4:40pm
Nicely said.
Oleg
Jun 16 2021 at 3:22pm
“Just a few minutes ago, I wanted to send flowers to a woman in
East Germany, er, Canada, to thank her for helping me think through how to get to my cottage in northwestern Ontario this year.”For only $1,000 CDN, I will not rat you out to the authorities. Email me.
Just kidding … $2,000.
David Henderson
Jun 16 2021 at 3:38pm
I don’t think you got it.
I wasn’t talking to her about to break the law but about how to comply with the law. The feds make you an 8-day test for the coronavirus and they direct you on line. I was asking things like, “what happens if I don’t have wi-fi? Will FaceTime work?” Things like that.
Oleg
Jun 16 2021 at 5:03pm
David, if you’d been here recently, you’d know that the fact that you had complied with the law would not count for much if someone had anonymously reported to the authorities that you had not. They would make your sojourn here immeasurably miserable.
David Henderson
Jun 16 2021 at 7:09pm
Hmmm. Interesting. If by “here,” you mean “Canada,” that’s presumably where you’re writing from.
You do realize that your first comment along with your clarification amount to extortion, don’t you? I think that’s illegal.
Oleg
Jun 16 2021 at 7:53pm
If I didn’t believe that you were actually breaking any of our esteemed anti-COVID, anti-foreigner hygiene rules, I’d also need to be worried about making a false police report.
All in jest, of course. Enjoy your holiday.
Comments are closed.