Fog on the Superdata Highway

Pages147-148
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/eb045284
Published date01 March 1994
Date01 March 1994
AuthorPeter Kruger
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Library & information science
Guest
Editorial
Fog
on
the Superdata
Highway
Peter Kruger
Digithurst
Ltd,
Newark
Close,
Royston,
Herts.
SG8 5HL, UK
The digital commuter
To those living in small rural communities around Lyon in
France, the TGV
and
autoroutes have
had
little impact other
than to take away strips of agricultural
land.
Rather than
bringing
the
local population
the benefits
of better communi-
cation they
have,
in
some
cases,
increased
their
isolation.
Lo-
cal stations are closed down or have reduced services and
motorway intersections
are deemed
unnecessary or
impracti-
cal for small communities. Left to watch commuters speed
past in cars or
on
trains,
those now living in
isolated
commu-
nities are now about to be bypassed by the Superdata High-
way.
They
are
not the only
ones facing alienation
and isolation
as
workers
commute along
fibre
optic cables to virtual
offices.
The telework myth
Teleworking is
perceived as a telecottage
industry
a
home
office complete with a PC, stripped pine desk and Laura
Ashley
curtains.
It is unlikely that
the
office worker who has
decided to desert the city and set up shop in the weekend
cottage has a
viable
long-term
future.
As
global
networks be-
come more efficient
and deregulation
brings down transmis-
sion costs, transmission of
the
ten millisecond pack of data
which makes up a typical day's work will not come to rest
until it has found the cheapest supplier. Why should large
corporations pay over the odds for work just to support the
yuppy lifestyles of teleworkers when that work can be ob-
tained
for less
in
the FarEast?
Three translators in
China work
for less pay
than one
European-based translator
and the
sala-
ries of programmers in India or Russia are half those of
equivalent staff
in
the US or
Europe.
Work will travel along
the Superdata Highway—one way, with a single ticket.
Large numbers of
people
who today consider themselves as
professional or middle
class
will
find
themselves
barred
from
entering the Superdata Highway and subject to the same al-
ienation
and
isolation which now afflicts
rural
peasants.
It is disturbing while travelling on the Brussels under-
ground,
between discussions on communication technology,
to
find
people begging
for
money.
This is
after all
a
European,
not
a
Third
World,
city.
The sight
of people
begging is
unnerv-
ing
as it betrays the
fragile
nature
of
our
society.
These people
are on the lower rungs of a sinking ladder
a
ladder on
which
we are
all
standing.
Rural poverty is conveniently
hid-
den
inside picturesque country
cottages and screened
by
roll-
ing
and,
for
the most
part,
desolate
landscapes.
The hoboes
of
the information highway, however, scurry around in alleys
and subways and are embarrassingly close to those who are
turning society into a city of
the
elite where the currency is
information.
The glass ceiling
Teleworking and home shopping distort the relationship be-
tween
the consumer
and
the
producer
to such
an
extent that we
may not be able to rely on conventional economic theory to
guide
us through the
next
decade.
Certainly
the high
levels of
unemployment that we are about to experience during the
next few years will challenge ideas on the work ethic as a
motivator
and a
mechanism
for providing
social
structure,
or
even as an
outlet for creativity.
Conventional economics
state that after an intervening
pe-
riod of
hardship we
will all benefit
from the
Chinese transla-
tors'
rising standard
of
living.
These
people
after
all will
begin
to demand higher wages and material
possessions,
which
will
create demand for the products from Western European
manufacturers. We are, however, assuming that we can ex-
pand a system which has
already
reached the
limit of
growth.
Perhaps car ownership in
India
will rise to
the
levels it
has
in
Europe,
perhaps every
household in China
will have
a
refrig-
erator. Where will the steel and petrochemicals come from
and what will happen to the ozone layer when they are
scrapped?
Ecosystem
The
idea
of giving anyone with a car more
than
twelve years
old £600 to buy a new one and, in so doing, keep 20 000
workers in employment for another few months is not the
action
of
a bankrupt
economy
but
of
a
bankrupt economic
and
political system. Assembling combinations of plastics and
metal
which
are returned to the earth
after
15
years of
poison-
ing cities and maiming or killing their users is an inefficient
use
of
resources.
Western
society,
with its
reliance
on
produc-
tion and consumption to provide a social structure
and
spiri-
tual fulfilment, is committed
to car production and
motoring.
However, as the population becomes older and less able to
The Electronic Library, Vol. 12, No. 3, June 1994 147

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT