Social Fiction

So here we are.

The future.

2014 is certainly in the realms of that which in the nineteen-sixties and seventies we used to designate as "the future". We've long passed Arthur C. Clarke's milestone of 2001 (nothing remotely HAL-like existed then), and all except the last date point in Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles are already in the past (April 2026 if you're interested).

We now exist in that tomorrow we used to eagerly read about as children. It's extremely interesting therefore to revisit Isaac Asimov's predictions for 2014 made in 1964: flying cars, robots, videophones, enforced leisure. 

The cybernetic and singularity dreamers are ensuring that we are doing our utmost to ensure the coming to pass of the first three items in that list. Sure, flying cars may be a little way off, but Google's recent purchase of Boston Dynamics, and neuromorphic processors mean advanced robotics and artificial intelligence are a little closer to becoming a reality.

In Praise of Communication

I've recently been contracted to work in London, city of my birth, of my bringing up, and of certain excesses during my 5 years here around the millennium. It's interesting to note the way that it has changed, especially when compared to my youth in the 1970s and 1980s. Back then the capital was a little more down-at-heel, a little more social; and socialist - I mean, our leader was "red" Ken Livingstone after all. And at the risk of sounding like an old fart - one who can't keep up with the times, I must admit that I think London was a far better place to exist back then. There were more spaces and structures through which to relate to your fellow woman or man. Symptomatic of the modern London (of which I'm about to get polemic on yo' ass) is the issue of communication. I'm not talking about rude cockneys or the silence of the Central Line - things have always been that way. No, the communication which I wish to dwell upon is of an altogether different nature.

IT Service? Welcome To The Social Sciences

Firstly, I must apologise for being such a diverse soul. There are readers who discovered this blog for postings about IT service management, others were drawn to it because they were interested in musings upon organisational (and other types of) psychology. I've even commented once or twice about social issues such as social luddism and racism which probably attracted others. The most recent posting was related to psychology, but touched upon phenomena currently considered to be at the far edge of the discipline - NDEs.

But buoyed by my recent talk at the Service Desk and IT Show in London (#SITS13) recently, I think it's time to go back to basics, or dare I say - back to ITSM (insert wink emoticon here). Although, with this particular post I'm going to have my cake and eat it; that is ITSM, psychology and sociology are all going to be wrapped up in one post, so it should keep all the diverse followers happy.