Subliminal Coercion

My ideal community was built in such a way that the most convenient way of doing something was also the ‘ideal’ way. Such as making walking more convenient than driving between home and school, or work.

If people can live more environmentally friendly, or use local goods and services rather than imports, without going out of their way then the goal of my community has been achieved. Thus to get people to do this is less about directly convincing the people, and more about providing the resources and layout of a community that fosters the desired way of life. For example, to convince people to increase their socially connections and to interact with their friends more is a hard concept to implement, but if you give them the technologies of Facebook, Twitter, or SMS, the populace embraces these and your result is achieved, albeit in a somewhat different form.

So in order to have people remember to turn off their lights for example, convince them to install a smart system that, through their cell phone’s GPS or some other tracking device, will automatically turn off house lights when they are not in the vicinity. Mapping programs that will suggest walking as a good option to get from point A to point B, and websites like WHERE.COM that help people become more aware of their local surroundings are all technologies that I believe have potential to change the masses. As an individual in a community, I can help foster others, by writing reviews and rating different local services and outlets in my community on websites where others in the community will be able to see and be influenced by my contributions.

As an engineer, I hope to assist in developing technologies that will allow people to be more environmentally friendly, locally supportive and globally aware. Coming up with ideas for change is relatively easy. The challenge is implementing in such a way that it sticks and grows without being a burden on the community.

By combining well-though community design, and the implementation of appropriate technologies, it is possible, I believe, to create certain changes without ever publicly expressing the desired change. Through this and similar techniques, a community can be formed, over time, into one that is growing more environmentally friendly, locally supportive, and globally aware.