In 2009 I travelled on business a lot. Too much. I am waiting the second six-months Dopplr report, but I think I am somewhere around 100,000 kms, with the consequences that you can imagine in terms of pollution and congestion. Well, as information transport technology go, motorways, trains and airplanes are spectacularly inefficient. It’s like propelling a boat by exploding dynamite aft of the vessel, and counting on the explosion’s shockwave to move it: it (kinda) works, but it iss damaging, dangerous and very, very coarse.

Gli esperti di mobilità non hanno ancora capito una cosa assolutamente ovvia: il sostituto dell’auto non è l’auto elettrica o a idrogeno. Non è il trasporto pubblico urbano. E’ internet, che sposta informazione senza spostare atomi (giusto qualche elettrone, che pesa mooolto meno di noi). Mobility experts are not getting something which should be absolutely obvious: the substitute technology for the car is not the electric (or hydrogen) car; nor is it public transport. It is the Internet, which is good at transporting information without moving atoms around (it does move a few electrons, but those are waaay lighter than us.

Let’s make a deal, in the interest of the planet and of our own well-being: let us all buy a 20 euro headphones and microphone, install Skype and Second Life for interacting with others. Above all, it would be a great idea to learn to coordinate with our colleagues in writing – and asinchronously. There’s quite a lot of great tools out there to help us – many of them free – so we can all enjoy working from our offices in the clouds. Let’s travel, by all means, but let’s do it to explore new or beautiful places, or to give a hug to a loved one. And let’s finally dispose of a really obsolete technology that everybody hates: the meeting.