I was just reading this article about truck drivers adoption of Wi-Fi and it brought up a discussion of the driving forces of mankind.
I put forth the theory a while back that one of the big reasons mankind went off and explored new parts of the globe was to find new ways to make alcohol. I came up with this theory when I was researching where tequila came from. Here’s this cactus and someone said “Hey I bet I can make alcohol form it”.
The article above says truck drives led in the CB craze and it isn’t surprising they would lead in the “communication revolution” with WiFi too. Sorry but I’d contend truck drivers consume a lot of porn and that’s why they are leading this technology.
Now I’m not disparaging truck drivers. Geeks are big consumers of porn and have pushed the internet to make it possible to get it easier. At least truck drivers consume porn because they are on the road alone. Geeks are just socially inept.
As an aside, what do it say when we say people “consume” porn. Kind of like people consume chocolate.
Ron, you might be right about truck drivers and porn. I just don’t have the statistical evidence to say that they, as a group, are greater or lesser users than any similar demographic of Web surfers. But the point is they are pushing the implementation of Wi-Fi. It makes no difference whether they are doing it to view porn or write the Pope. The key thing here is the communication process not the communicated content. Besides if the Internet has taught us anything, it’s that we will use it to pursue content and usage that is varied and different from what first drew us to it.
Before I would dismiss out of hand what the influence of truck drivers will be on Wi-Fi and Web usage, I would explore what happened with CB radio and how it changed the notion of mobility and information exchange. You may not be old enough to remember the CB revolution, but I am. I was a working journalist at the time and occasionally wrote on the subject. I can assure you it changed how radio was used as a communication technology. I might even be able to make a convincing case that it was instrumental in establishing demand for cell phones. CB was the first low-cost, readily available, instantaneous communication technology not tied to stationary power sources.
By the way, looking at your bio and answers to James Lipton’s questions leads me to share with you that I have been both a photographer and motorcycle writer.
Thanks for your comments on truck drivers and Wi-Fi.