This morning I got up, showered, dressed, made a cup of tea (green with Jasmine), ate breakfast, packed lunch, and headed out the door for school.
I hopped in the car, turned the key, and the engine turned over (and over), but wouldn't start. In my 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit (RIP, "Leila"), this meant I needed to pump the gas a little, but my like-new 1999 Toyota Corolla ("Zeke") has that newfangled fuel injection stuff, so that wasn't the problem (I don't think...). It was a damp morning. Maybe the distributer? But the cap wasn't cracked or loose. Maybe condensation in the fuel line? Spark plugs? Maybe anything...
It never started, so I hopped aboard my trusty bike (1995 Gary Fischer Nirvana, "Gary") and sped off to school. I arrived at school covered in sweat and mud (remember, it's a damp 45 degree February morning), thirty minutes late to class (I live on the other side of the city), but just in time for my first quiz. Score one for me.
Plus, it's free coffee Monday at McDonald's, so today really can't be that bad. I called the shop, and they're going to tow Zeke over and take a look at him. I'll bike by after school. But I'm wondering, if I could actually poll everyone (say, in all my classes), would they know what the problem was?
I know, it sounds far-fetched. But according to Surowiecki in "The Wisdom of Crowds," perhaps not that far-fetched.
If the stock market could figure out who is to blame for the Challenger explosion (that gives me goosebumps!), I think a group of college students might be able to guess Zeke's ailment. Yes, Meredith, I'd like to poll the audience. Any guesses, people?
In all seriousness, this information just amazes me. I love the fact that Google works on this principle. It's fascinating that tagging can function the same way. What would happen if the two technologies married, as Laura Gordon-Murnane suggests? Super-brilliant offspring with the knowledge of the masses only a click away, that's what.
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4 comments:
The knowledge of the masses idea sounds really good, but at the same time it sounds really scary. To me this idea sounds like the book that I was assigned to read for class. If we were all in this huge community that interacted with each other instead of small communities, we would know about what was going on all over the world everyday. Could our brains handle that? ...My answer to the survey question is maybe you needed a jump.
Sounds like it was vapor locked, or Gerflatten. There was a time I would have been laying underneath a truck, tapping on the starter with a hammer... in the middle of a date. That train has sailed.
Such a exciting tale. At one point I forgot I was reading our class blog. The point that interested me the most was your connection of Google to the crowds on wisdom idea. Were you suggesting that when you go a Google search its the same was polling a large amount of people? If you are that is a new and exciting standpoint. I believe something to be considered. If not I am sorry for injecting you with foolishness!
I'm with Quetta -- reading your blog entries is always a pleasure!
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