Archives: Expert Predictions

The interesting questions to ponder are: (1) is “exposure” in cyberspace the same as exposure in physical space, and (2) if so, who among us will: (a) unthinkingly exceed the virtual FARs of stimulating space and move into active freneticism, (b) ever so gently decline into the state of “comfortably numb” as we use isolating environments to cut ourselves off from exposure, or (c) pro-actively leverage connectivity to serve our time rather than succumb to the temptations of too many activities … The answers probably lie in the combination of autonomy and self-awareness that structures individual lives, and the sense of mission that make up institutional memories.

We may have slipped into work spaces that leave us nowhere to hide, that over-illuminate our thought refuges with the blaze of activity.

The universal “we” has lost a sense of rhythm, and is in danger of unbalancing the thought and action cycle that drives creative human behavior … Where traveling through space physically once buffered periods of mental activity, we are squeezing out the inherent rest cycle associated with going to libraries, face-to-face meetings, and going from home to work … The added convenience of telecommunication-based collaboration, the umbrella reason that new technologies are adopted within organizations, carries with it this hidden cost of a loss of pace as it throws us into the vacuum of electronic space.