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The increasingly inaccurately-named blog of journalist and futurist Chris Taylor. Either the most sporadically brilliant amateur blog, the most brilliantly amateur sporadic blog, or the most amateur sporadic brilliance on the Web since 2001.
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Daily Blah FAQ
Who are you?
I'm the newly-appointed Future editor at Business 2.0 and the former San Francisco correspondent for Time Magazine.
Wow, so does this mean everything you write reflects Time Inc's opinion? Or do you perhaps have some sort of standard disclaimer to the effect that it doesn't?
Naturally, the opinions contained in this blog are not those of my employers. In fact, some opinions may be the polar opposite of my employers. Some may be the same, for all I know. Hey, it's not like I ask my employers their opinions about everything in the news, okay? Let's just say that if this were a Venn diagram with one circle marked "my opinions" and the other one marked "my employers' opinions", there would doubtless be some overlap. But neither I nor my employers are able to pinpoint exactly where that overlap is.
What is this Daily Blah thing?
An experiment for a column I wrote about blogging back in December 2001. All these years later, I haven't been able to kick the habit.
Do you write any other blogs, by chance? Could that have something to do with the fact that Daily Blah isn't always Daily?
Yes -- the Future Boy blog for Business 2.0. And yes. If you want true, editorially-mandated daily coverage from me, that's probably the best place to look.
Mister, you talk funny. Are you one of them furrners?
Why yes I am, as it happens. I was born, raised and educated in Great Britain. I've been living in the U.S. since 1996 and identify as British.
I say, old chap, you forgot the "u" in "colour."
No I didn't. I may identify as British, but I am also an American journalist writing for an American audience about mostly American issues. These two different sides of me are a constant source of tension. Nevertheless, Daily Blah will adhere to American English grammar and spelling.
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Daily Blah for... Thursday, August 19, 2004
Something Good on TV
Went to a talk at Fort Mason last Friday; another counterintuitive special brought to you by those forward-thinking folks at the Long Now Foundation. The subject of the talk was the threat of global depopulation. Yes, you read that right: according to Philip Longman, author of The Empty Cradle, our numbers are going to continue to grow like those of rabbits for another sixteen years or so before the trend reverses. The world population is going to shrink, and grow older, and Longman spent a good deal of time elucidating why that's a Bad Thing. I didn't necessarily agree, more on which later. But first, what is the cause of this calumny? For what will we stop fornicating ourselves into overpopulated oblivion? Two letters: T and V. When television moves wholesale into any developing country, Longman demonstrated, the birth rate plummets. People stop having children and start clustering like children -- round the tube. For much of the third world today, staring at soap operas is preferable to livin' la vida ninos. People on TV are just as beautiful to look at as babies, they don't leave as much mess, and you've actually got a volume control.
As I said, Longman believes this is a harbinger of global doom (you pretty much have to believe that about any theory these days just to make it into print). He thinks the young urban professional ought to be encouraged to have more kids again, which led to the whispered joke that there would be a party immediately afterwards in the parking lot. Longman says the future elderly -- that is, those of my generation who live this long -- are going to leave a rapacious trail across the Earth in search of ever more thrilling entertainment, ever larger SUVs and ever more cardboard-like Big Macs. Gee, sorry, mister. We didn't do it yet. Where I don't follow Longman's logic is in what way is it going to help if we have more kids if those kids, enamored with all the freedom a global economy can give them, go out and do the same thing?
Longman seemed to be missing the main point, however. After he had mentioned that Mormons and right-wing fundamentalists were going to increase their numbers -- because they're more likely to have kids for religious reasons -- he got a question from the audience: "has anyone figured out a way to make TV shows that appeal to conservatives?" It's a fair question, and one that makes me glad after seeing Outfoxed. As horrific as Rupert Murdoch's assault on journalism is, at least it's helping to dam the flow of right-wing babies.
To quote the great sage Homer Simpson: "Television. Is there anything you can't do?"
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