lost in aviation

The anthropologist Grant McCracken sums up flying as an experience for business people:

'canceled flights, late arrives, missed connections, lost luggage, being forced to sit in a plane on the ground because the airline wants to protect its on-time departure rating. The list goes on. In the early days, air travel was something glamorous. Now it's more like a kidnapping by amateurs.'

So much easier, he says, to stay where you are:

'compare the investment you are obliged to make to get from your desk to the boardroom at the end of the hall to all the things you need to get from New York to and from Chicago.'

His solution for businesses? Live face-to-face communication over the network. What it needs is some very smart marketing to push adoption of the technology (that already exists) over the tipping point.

(Our new online DVD on 'theatre in a time of climate instability' is an effort towards non-flying transatlantic conversation.)

Pic: Heathrow