Neurological Correlates

This post is about the NYT column by Tom Friedman*, “Why How Matters.” It reminded me of an SSRN paper, Strahilevitz, Lior, “‘How’s My Driving?’ for Everyone (and Everything?)” . NYU Law Review, Vol. 81, p. 1699, November 2006 Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=899144 (Previous blog post here)

Mr. Friedman quoted Dov Seidman, a business ethics expert as saying:

Seidman basically argues that in our hyperconnected and transparent world, how you do things matters more than ever, because so many more people can now see how you do things, be affected by how you do things and tell others how you do things on the Internet anytime, for no cost and without restraint.

And there you have it: a “how’s my driving” for everyone, all the time . With upcoming presidential debates, and instant fact checking, that’s basically what we have — each candidate with a big “how’s my driving” sticker. Although Mr. Strahilevitz’ paper is more focused on torts and criminal law, he posits using an e-bay type reputation tracker. This would make it even more interesting because then anyone could query the credibility of anyone who has an opinion.

For example, the NYT referenced my own Goldman-Cheney conspiracy theory, and of course, an anonymous biopharma blogger has the ne plus ultra in credibility.

*I started reading Mr. Friedman’s columns in 2005, after channel surfing, and seeing him on C-Span. He looked like a friend of my sister’s. So I watched the interview, basically trying to decide if he was the friend. At the end of the show, it turned out the interview was from 1989. The interview was about Mr. Friedman’s experiences being the Lebananon correspondent for the NYT. Although I was watching this in 2005, and the interview was from 1989, it sounded current to me (admittedly, I was looking at him more than listening and wondering if he was my sister’s friend from college)(he’s not).