(note: if you're short on time, just read the bold parts)
the computer scientist and mathematician in me often cause me to think about how to make commonplace situations the most efficient and beneficial for everyone. for example, situations such as:
- boarding an airplane -- how to board everyone the quickest w/ minimum hassle
- waiting in lines at a store
- boston's subway -- how to decide how many subway trains to have, where to place them, and how often to run
- placement of products within department stores like target
these types of things naturally cross my mind as i encounter them. yet, lately, i've come to not only accept the fact that the world at large is a massive NP-complete, inexact, sub-optimal system, but that it's often best this way.
for example, while at mike's pastries recently (my favorites there are the chocolate covered ricotta cannoli and german chocolate brownie!), i was thinking about how horribly disorganized that place is: basically, there's one line that forms outside, but once inside the store, there are no lines. you merely force your way up to any of the surrounding glass counters and compete for the attention of a nearby cashier. oh, and they only accept cash.
i've been to mike's pasties tons of times, yet it's always exciting and enjoyable -- even if it does have a huge touristy vibe. while thinking about how long this place has been famous, and how well their system works for them, it then hit me: the seemingly horrible time-inefficiency of their system actually isn't too bad. moreover, their inefficiency actually benefits them and is a vital part of their success! see, the chaotic nature of their store helps facilitate the exciting vibe of being there. if the lines were streamlined and branched off smoothly to cashiers, then the place would be typical. it wouldn't be as fun. this chaotic fun helps make the whole experience better, and probably even influences our perception of how good the food tastes.
lesson learned: what may be seem like an objective benefit to people may not actually be what's best; sometimes the sub-optimal solution is incidentally optimal.
as for unaccountability, lately i've witnessed two tragic events:
- a man die by plummeting down a gigantic waterfall (see recent post)
- a police raid; unseen to me, police shot a man 10-12 times. the victim merely had a water gun.
the waterfall incident went almost unnoticed. i saw the man fall, and the ~4 nearby people heard my screams and participated in the search. minutes later, hikers entering the trail had no idea what had just happened. it was only the next morning that officials found the victim's body. the incident only received a few sentences on local news sites, and the news was wrongly report too -- for they stated that he had fallen into the river. i would have thought that the park would have been encouraged to post more warnings about the dangers of going beyond the railings, and would have possibly constructed a plague dedication to the victim. nope. it was merely wrongly reported and probably only listed as a park statistic at best.
it baffled me how easily such an important thing like one's life can fail to garner proper action. i realize everyone's short on time, and that there are only a limited amount of resources for everything. yet, i'm constantly amazed and constantly realizing how limited these things actually are, and what's realistic to expect. this isn't some depressing message; it's just my coming to understand the inexactness and imperfections that occur in the world -- that not everything's ideal. of course.
as for the police raid incident, my friend brian and i witnessed ~20 cop cars come to one's home. the police constructed battering rams, kevlar shields, and gigantic guns as they prepared to invade this peron's house. we didn't really know what we were witnessing. days later, i looked online and found essentially no information reported. like the waterfall death, it was merely a 3-sentence blurb stating nothing beyond what we already knew. days later, i looked online again and found a slightly more detailed story: the victim apparently only possessed a water gun, and police supposedly didn't provide the man a chance to cooperate; police merely came in and used him as target practice. victim had 20 holes in him, mostly from gun shots.
what's the consequence? i don't know. i assume the victim's family will try to take to court some of the police, or maybe some policeman might be fired, but i don't know. it's just crazy to think of how large a mistake can be made without proper consequence/punishment/justice -- both justice in the form of police being punished and justice with respect to the story getting recognition in the news. i'm sure it's impossible for this to happen ideally. there are way too many people in the world, and there's no way every death can receive news coverage for everyone who cares. people die all the time, and the world is constantly fighting for everyone's attention. our attention is very very valuable and expensive, apparent by ubiquitous ads and just the nature of our very fast-paced lifestyles.
it's just weird to first-hand witness a life perish, possibly illegally, and for there to be so little accountability. oh yea, i was supposed to talk about accountability. basically, it's alarming, and for the same reasons that i've already said. there's so much going on, and there'll never be enough resources (time, energy, care, money, etc) that can properly do justice to everything. that's impossible and too expensive.
i don't mean for this entry to read as a depressing message. it's merely a reminder and a lesson that our world is imperfect, and that it takes a lot of very special effort, time, and care to make something the way you want it... and that for everything you do see, it's often the product of a lot of care and deliberation. thus, we shouldn't take things for granted. from streets being cleaned to newspapers being delivered, it takes a lot to get something done.
basically, we live in a beautiful mess. we should remember this and be more grateful for the things that do work.
