Day 7

I was just reading a Op-Ed by Paul Krugman in The New York Times titled “Degrees and Dollars.”  Basically, Krugman is saying that having a lot of education doesn’t necessarily lead to good, high-paying jobs anymore.  This struck a chord with me, given my frustration with the job market post-MBA.  In his editorial, Krugman describes a “hollowing out” where high- and low-wage jobs have grown, but medium-wage jobs have shrunk.  Basically, Krugman is arguing that advances in technology are actually eating away lower level white-collar jobs--computers are more efficient at doing research, for example, and improved telecommunications makes offshoring easier.  I can’t disagree with his assessment.  (The full article is here:  http://bit.ly/gtBJPu.)

Actually, I was thinking about something similar the other week.  I often get into inane conversations with my work colleague, David, about hypothetical situations.  The other week, the topic of discussion was teleportation; the week before that it was zombie invasion preparedness.

On teleportation: I was thinking about how the invention of teleportation would affect businesses, the economy, and ultimately world structure.  First off, we wouldn’t need full-scale offices anymore.  With teleportation, we’d all be able to work from home and then teleport to a central meeting place when we need to collaborate in-person.  And that would mean that a company could hire an employee anywhere in the world.  The war for talent literally would be global.  Local businesses would largely cease to exist.  Retailers would only need one large shopfloor open 24 hours to welcome in shoppers from across the globe.  Much retail would be done on the Internet, with nearly instantaneous delivery and return.  

All this means three things:  1)  people won’t need to live near their workplaces, leading to mass migration to more desirable areas locations, 2) retail and businesses will have a global employee and customer base but will be located in only one place, and 3) people will cross borders to work and work for companies not in their home country.  

With these changes the idea of the nation state would likely change as well.  Nations will compete to be the homes of both people and corporations, offering tax incentives and friendly policies so that they can maximise tax revenues.  Smaller or lower performing countries may merge to be more competitive.  Border security and trade laws would likely change, leading to more open movement of people and consolidation of currencies (like the Euro).  The definition of a superpower become even more about which country has the greatest economic might.  Traditional warfare would be replaced by cyber warfare.  

And maybe, possibly, there will be no doors.  And we’ll get fat and lose muscle mass because we teleport everywhere instead of walking.


Now that I’m done with that digression, a quick update on the diet one week in.  The first week has been difficult.  I haven’t felt too hungry and my cravings for carbs have not been dire enough for me to cheat, but I have felt listless, headache-y, and even a little grumpy (sorry Joyce!).  I’m hoping that my body is just adjusting and that this will improve.  If it doesn’t I’ll have to re-evaluate.  

Mood:  Quite alright, thanks
Jeans:  Fat jeans
Belt notch:  5th notch in

Food	Carbs (g)	Fat (g)	Calories	Protein
Hard-boiled eggs	trace	15.2	206
Bacon	2	11	166	14.6
M&S salad	2.8	0.4	20	1.1
Pork Belly	0	40.4	520	38.2
Roasted pepper	10.24	0.64	56	1.6
Broccoli	2.6	0.2	25	3.4
Lamb	0.96	6.4	192	32.8