News, thoughts, technology and tradition

Two stories from page 8 of today's FT**:

Eurostar sets Paris-London record (making the journey in almost 2 hrs)

Gender pay gap widens (despite regulations, pay gap is getting worse)

What is the take-home message?

Yes, technology can help reduce environmental problems (at 2 hours for a trip into downtown Paris, why would anyone want to fly to Paris ? Price ? ... ).  But the other story reminds us that the world cannot be solved by technology alone; human behaviour / culture must change too - and is a lot harder to influence.

An ex-colleague who heads up the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) recently asked me why I left the think-tank world to join a communications consultancy.  Easy answer: because effective communications changes perceptions and, eventually, behaviour.

** This is also the reason why I do not read newspapers online.  Individual stories contain interesting information - but the juxtaposition of different stories on the same page provides insights.  FT.com: no thanks.  I'll take the dirty fingers anyday.

Comments

[Mei-Hsin Chen]

I agree with your opinion: "the world cannot be solved by technology alone; human behaviour / culture must change too..."; "effective communications changes perceptions and, eventually, behaviour..."