COMMENT
Written on BA217 flying London to Washington and dispatched to silicon.com from my hotel via a low cost wi-fi service
For almost all of my professional life I have been trying to communicate complex concepts to individuals and audiences not versed in science, mathematics, technology and engineering. The most powerful, but definitely imperfect, method is through analogy with commonly understood experiences.
So among my continual challenges is the need to convey the need for speed. What the heck does 100Kbps or 1Mbps mean and why is it of interest and even important is a typical question. This I usually demonstrate and answer in various ways including:
The time to download a medium-sized VHS quality movie:
@1,000Mbps takes ~ 3 seconds
@100Mbps takes ~ 30 seconds
@10Mbps takes ~ 5 minutes
@1Mbps takes ~ 50 minutes
Alternatively, the time to download an average novel of around 1Mb:
@1,000Mbps takes ~ 0.001 seconds
@100Mbps takes ~ 0.01 seconds
@10Mbps takes ~ 0.1 seconds
@1Mbps takes ~ 1 second
But in my search for something more basic I came up with an alternative that I would like to try on you the readership as you represent a very wide spread of capability and understanding.
If a:
Walker @ 5km/h is equivalent to a phone call @ 0.056Mbps
Car @50km/h is equivalent to broadband @0.56Mbps
Plane @500km/h is equivalent to broadband @5.6Mbps
Missile @5,000km/h is equivalent to broadband @56Mbps
Rocket @50,000km/h is equivalent to broadband @560Mbps
The obvious question is to ask if we want to live in a society working at a walking pace or something faster, and how that might relate to GDP. Most people seem to have figured out GDP is related to speed of movement of both atoms and bits. For the most part, all of us also contemplate the cost and potential damage to the environment.
But of course, here is where the analogy breaks down.
The number and the speed of bits is in no way related to all of our practical experiences in the world of atoms. And this turns out to be really difficult to frame in a convincing manner for lay people.
Bit rate is really negligible in environmental damage and $$$ cost, and in this respect is unique. This turns out to be the hardest aspect to communicate, and one I have been unable to find a satisfactory analogy for.
Suggestions please, on a postcard.
Comments
There are 12 comments. Join the discussion
1. René de Wind
The development of speed of communication does not come down to efficiency only, but for consumers mostly the feeling of bulkyness: see the development of what we do with communication: download and upload from email to graphical webpages to music to movies. When they feel less 'bulky' we are increasingly inclined to do this.
For an analogy in both bulkyness and environment you could look at the development of energy-carriers like groing from wood to coal to gasoline to hydrogen.
Although the above does present an analogy in cost, I find insufficient - maybe the availability of clothing after the introduction of mass produced cotton and wool would be something to look at.
2. David Flint
The 'obvious question' - do we want to live in a society working at a walking pace or something faster - does not have an obvious answer.
We already live in a high-speed society and this implies increasing speed in physical movement. This may be associated with higher GDP but it has significant costs.
Physical movement, especially by air, produces CO2 emissions that our environment can no longer tolerate. Climate change is producing floods, droughts and desertification which WILL get worse whatever we do. Most of the readers of Silicon.com are shielded from the worst consequences by their prosperity. The worst consequences are felt by the poor people of Bangladesh, Darfur and Tuvalu; even New Orleans.
We cannot continue to treat this as an afterthought.
3. anonymous
A byte is 8 bits. Surely, therefore, a novel of 1MB (one megabyte) would take approximately 8 seconds to download at 1Mbps (one megabit per second).
4. L to the J
What about using the most popular "internet passtime" as an analogy.....
Do you want to look at a still photograph.......or a high def streaming movie!
hmmmmm.
5. Richard
We're used to dealing with "abstraction" but...
Recently, my worried neighbours rang the bell - a crisis with their central heating - they couldn't stop a leak soaking their ceilings.
(Naturally, a Bank Holiday weekend!)
Apart from other help, I drew a quick schematic diagram of their heating system to explain the pipe-work.
These people both have responsible jobs, but couldn't relate my diagram to their physical plumbing:
I'd use a different colour for each type of pipework: Cold feed; convection circuit; pumped circuit; hot water; etc. etc.
I'd drawn it with minimum "cross-overs" to make the pipes easier to follow.
However, they couldn't understand my diagram: Apparently my schematic diagram showed pipes entering the hot water cylinder on the left - whereas they actually entered on the right!
Like many of my "technical" ex-managers, these intelligent people had no experience with schematic diagrams.
6. Neil Taggart
What about a physical media analogy?
A song takes 10-20 mins with a modem
A full CD takes an hour with 1mbps (or 4 hours with 256kbps)
A DVD takes an hour with 5mbps
HD-DVD (bluray..whatever) takes 10 mins with 1gbps
7. Colin Bryant
Go back to the old 'big pipe' analogy. You can eventually fill a bath from a dripping tap but who wants to wait that long - and you may prefer a high pressure shower! And if you want to supply enough water for everyone in town to have a shower at the same time every morning you will need a big water main - bigger than is needed for the rest of the day.
You are right it is not about bit rate, it's what you want to do with it - download a movie/music/book to store and watch/hear/read later or in real time. And just because you can doesn't mean you have to - I have a car but I walk to the shops for exercise and fresh air and to socialise with neighbours I meet on the way.
But higher bit rate can have an environmental/health impact - particularly in mobile communications where it means higher powered masts and handsets.
8. Peter Cochrane
Rene = It is a tough one and unlike anything we have seen before. More for less year on year...Peter
9. Peter Cochrane
David = Perhaps speed will help those making climate models cope with the inclusion of clouds and other gases that have a far greater impact than CO2. We have a very unclear picture beyond the fact that something is happening...we think...and are thus move to act. People won't solve this one because the cannot, they just don't have the capability, but the machines, fast machines that is, just might! Peter
10. Peter Cochrane
L to the J = Well both actually...provided I am not constrained to either. Peter
11. Peter Cochrane
Richard = I'm afraid our education system is not only letting people down, it is crippling their ability to reason and think! Peter
12. Peter Cochrane
Colin = We now have the technology to get rid of the vas majority of those towers...so we'll see over the next 30 years. Peter