Saturday, May 12, 2007

Review the six degrees!

I think it´s time we review the six degrees of separation statement/axiom/theorem, don´t you?

I mean, what year was that formulated? It came out of an experiment, right? Hmm...let´s see.

Ok, here´s what Wikipedia says. Apparenty the experiment was carried out in 1967 and then again in 2001. In the latter, the conclusion was that six degrees is an average, not a maximum.

Anyways, my point is that the connectedness we´re achieving by means of technology should lower this number in the next decade or so, at least to 4. What do you think?

Too many...



Inspired on this post by Nick Smith.

Reengineer


I bought this Wacom Graphire4 tablet and have been practicing drawing on it. At first it´s harder than drawing on paper but then you start getting the feel of it and discovering features, etc. The previous post was drawn on it too.

This is my modern version of ¨So much ado about nothing¨...

Sunday, May 06, 2007

So loooong...


The facts are: more and more people get divorced each year and people are losing faith in marriage/life-long relationships. There were 14,000 divorce cases in Puerto Rico in 2006 (25,000 people got married). Spain is the EU member in which marriages last longer, an ¨astonishingly¨ 13.8 years.

Why? Why do we make the difficult decision to spend the rest of our lives with another person and then fail miserably in so many cases? Is there a way we could save the drama? Let it be clear that I´ve never been married, let alone been in a relationship that lasted more than 8 months. But I think a good way to analyze this is in terms of goals and outcome.

Think of the many times you´ve heard somebody say ¨I´m ready to settle, at this time in MY life, finding a partner for the rest of MY life is what I need.¨ Their GOAL is to spend the rest of their life with someone (mistakingly identified with marriage). The outcome is very likely to be a STRIIIIIKEEE 1!! after a few years.

Now ask a couple that´s been together for, say, 30 years. Ask them ¨how do you do it?¨ You´ll get an answer that talks about them living for the other person, loving the other person everyday is the goal. As a result (OUTCOME), they´ve been able to spend their lives together.

How about changing the approach to marriage from the mindset of ¨I want to spend the rest of my life with someone, let´s go out and find her¨ to ¨I want to make someone happy that will make me happy, and as a result spend the rest of our lives together¨? Make the other person´s happiness your goal, and find someone with the same intention.

This is another smallapproachtothebigpicture. What´s yours?