Chance Favors A Prepared Mind

Claims of having solutions and right answers to problems are everywhere today. So much so, that it all sounds like indistinguishable white noise. And expertise has become synonymous with defending territory. And so, the seemingly unfathomable amount of ​‘unkowns’, that inform our lives and future decisions probably need a more nimble method for exploration. 

In the case of our friend here, his accomplishment isn’t getting pouched by this little city on the lake for a two-year contract of maintenance and troubleshooting of these new landscapes… 

‘Yes, that’s right…two years’ 

It’s going to be his ability to see broader patterns and potentials in the events unfolding around him… not just fixing problems. 

What you’re not seeing back in town, is a rather large investment of money and political capital by some apparently important people … and things aren’t exactly going to plan. 

Nothing catastrophic, but…well, when you come in pitching new buildings and parks because you think problems are fixable through better technology and a slice of monetization on top. Well… What could go wrong, right? 

And so he sits on his stuff. Not in a comfortable chair, with a drink in hand and roof overhead. But on a box, in a driveway, looking at a house that the city apparently hasn’t even started for him. 

Not only that, but the city already dropped off some of that work for him to look at. A glitching something or other that belongs to a bigger project downtown. 

All I know is.…(IPAD lights up) 

A malfunction of the tablet? 

Or maybe this is why these things are sitting in the driveway. 

It’s been almost half an hour of this. And all these pictures running across the screen have the same 4 or 5 people in them. The project has clearly tapped into these people’s iCloud account. 

If you didn’t know better, you’d have to say this thing is trying to make a play date. As if it’s trying to make someone some new friends. 

When tech starts to misbehave and glitch, especially in funny ways, it’s easy to want to see these as meaningful behaviors. As if their actions with intelligence behind them. It would certainly be a lot more exciting to claim a ​‘ghost in the code’ or some emergent condition than acknowledge that there’s probably just a flaw in the assumptions about how people and the tech interface with each other. In this case, the project is probably just doing its job a little too well. Being way too aggressive and sharing too much. 

And even though that’s probably the case, you can’t help but consider taking the suggestion. 

Because there doesn’t seem to be much choice at this point, new friends are going to be made around here one way or another! 

And we would all do well to begin exercising our imaginations if we’re going to get a grasp on the potentials developing in this little city by the lake.