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I live on an RV and drive all across the country. I do 55mph on the freeway and that is with 75 MPH speed limits. It is a symptom of the speeding up of everything (thinking, acting, working, eating, moving, etc) that is making drivers think they have to drive so fast. I drive 55 for many reasons including gas savings, safety concerns and to have more time to decide on traffic decisions.

To everyone else who thinks it is somehow "not safe" to drive slower, SLOW DOWN. Give yourself extra time to get to your destination instead of speeding along to get somewhere "faster". Many can not help but move fast. They think fast, act impulsively and do everything fast. This is naturally extended to the moving vehicle. Try consuming less sugar, high-fructose corn syrup and caffeine. Fast-moving television and movies have a negative influence on our whole "faster" way of life too. Someone even wrote a book on being faster. http://fasterbook.com/

This is why I live on the road. I don't have to *be* anywhere, anytime. I choose where I want to be *RIGHT NOW*.

And I'm 31 years old. I have a family to protect and care for.

by James Gleick, described here. A most excellent book. It has a chapter or two on this exact phenomenon, and some interesting facts about elevator design and placement in various kinds of office buildings and skyscrapers.

Also a chapter on the NTP network and the master clocks at the US Naval Observatory.

Dontcha think it's possible to go a bit too far with the cramming?

Has anyone else read the book Faster by James Gleick? It's a really interesting study on how, as a group, our idea of time has been modified in recent years. It seems as if the pace of everything has gotten "faster, quicker, more efficient" and yet, at the same time we should be reaping the rewards of all this efficiency with more free time, which obviously hasn't materialized.

Anyway, the book is really good and I recommend it (in addition to most of Gleick's other stuff.) It explores all the different aspects of how we treat time management in the modern world. For example, take the case of someone buying a complicated PDA or other gadget and then spending a whole lot of time configuring it, wrestling with sync software, entering all their contacts into the device, keeping batteries charged, etc. -- when their old method (probably a little black book or rolodex) took a lot less effort when you sum everything up. And yet, they feel like they're saving time. This is just one type of example that the book tries to delve into, and I'm afraid I haven't done it justice. The book was a very pleasant read and makes you think about a lot of things we do in the "modern age" (whatever that is.)

Working on a machine that has 128k of memory and uses an NTSC monitor is pointless; most wristwatches have more processing power than that nowadays.

I understand the point your trying to make, but you're clearly ignorant of present technology if you think most wristwatches have a CPU more powerful than an Apple ][ or more than 128k of memory. Most wristwatches I see today are still analog, and most of the remaining digital ones have far poorer specs than an Apple ][. Care to change your definition of "most" or "processing power"? ;-)

Some people need to just grow up and change with the times. Nostalgia is good but living in the past will get you nowhere. Get a grip.

People who UNDERSTAND the technology they use commonly have a VERY good grip. Of course, they LOOK like they're standing still compared to those who chase the bleeding edge of tech and never quite get a grip on any of it.

Your watch analogy reminded me of a quote from James Gleick's book Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything:
"A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with 2 watches is never sure".

That book will really ruffle the feathers of anyone who thinks the only way to make progress is to develop more and newer and faster technologies. Very good book. /. review here and more info here and here.

Imagine how long it would take to get to the top of this thing?

His book Faster: The Acceleration of Just About Everything has a really good chapter on skyscrapers, elevators, and proposed "alternative designs" for elevators.

Yes, it would take you forever to go to the top of this thing. So? It would take you forever to go that far horizontally on foot, too. (Going in a vehicle doesn't count, because you can't (say) shop on the way, plus you have to take time to park at your destination.)

we can decentralize these operations, saving space, energy, commute time, the air, preventing sprawl.

Yeah, now we can locate them in even more greatly dispersed areas, where rent is cheaper. Why pay the rates that a development corp charges for being on the edge of the suburb when we can just take over a cornfield from a farmer who is going under.

As a journalist I would love to be able to step into my car and have all my databases, research and editing tools at my fingertips.
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We should all SLOW THE HELL DOWN for a bit, anyway.

Perhaps it's me, but this doesn't sound slower to me. Working in the car sounds faster, a la James Gleick.

Decentralizing increases sprawl. As does the proliferation of the personal automobile. By this I mean the decentralization and compartmentalization of the needs of a person's daily life. Perhaps you meant something else...

Used to be that most offices were downtown, in the central city. People lived there, too. Used to be that cities & towns grew up with everything one needed, close by. People lived over storefronts. Neighborhoods had a wide mix of building usages: retail, light manufacturing, office, residential.

These days, developments rigidly enforce zoning separations. Can't put those stores too close to homes! People we don't know might walk through our neighborhood, and we all know what kind of people can't afford to drive! Nope, anyplace worth visiting has to be driven to. LA isn't the only place where nobody walks, it's just the most obvious example.

But yeah, sure, let's do internet access in the car. Let's try to be more "efficient" and get more work done on our way to and from work. It'll be convenient. At first. Then it will become a job reqirement, like pagers and on-call hours.