[ExI] moving bits, not butts, was RE: Serious topic

[spike]

... On Behalf Of Anders Sandberg
...

>...Still, I think this is something greens should be pushing for rather
strongly...

Greens and people who want to have an actual family life, yes.

>... Reducing businesspeople crossing the Atlantic for pointless meetings
has a decent environmental effect - but the substitute must be able to have
the same level of social signalling as a transcontinental trip that shows
that This Meeting Is Important.--Anders Sandberg 


That was a most insightful comment Anders.  I went kiting across the
continent far too many times (one of which I had to do when you were here
visiting.)  We could have done a lot of that business using telephones
instead of airplanes.  We have had secure video-enabled links at least since
the mid-1990s.  When I was making 30 cross country trips in 17 months, I was
strongly pushing for travel reform.  I like airplanes, but I don't like
travelling; I find it most distasteful.  I met with surprising resistance in
cutting down on the face to face meetings.  I like staying home with my
family, I very much dislike being on the road, even overnighters.  

During those hectic days in 2008, I was going out of San Francisco on the
10.20 PM Tuesday evening flight to land in New York at the crack of dawn,
get to the meeting by 0800 if the traffic was good, meet all day, go back to
the airport and catch the 6.40 PM Wednesday flight out of Newark back to
SFO, landing at 10.15 if there wasn't a headwind, drive home, go to the
office Thursday morning.  I had a lot of travel expense reports with four
meals and no hotel.  {8^D  {8-[  

We had demonstrated in 1999 that a software project can be done almost
entirely remotely: our team was scattered in five different US cities.
Microsloth Powerpoint was a great breakthrough.  If all the participants can
see the charts and hear the audio, the meeting is about 80% as effective as
being there and soooo much easier, faster and cheaper, way less exhausting
and more compatible with family life.

spike