MRT survey will be a waste of money if....
We are about to spend $4 million on planning our transport system for the nineties (SH Apr 30, 1971).
Two of the terms of reference are that in 20 years the population will be four million and the number of cars one to eight people, or 500,000.
When we start with the wrong terms of reference, a survey just so much waste of time and money, and the implementation of the recommendations probably disastrous.
Let us see how sound these two fundamental terms are.
Doubling of the population to four million in 20 years means a yearly increase of 3.5 percent.
We prided ourselves in having reduced our rate of increase recently to near two percent and held out hopes of a lower rate of two percent, the population in 20 years would be three million.
Where will the extra million come from?
Are we going to imitate our erstwhile colonial overlords and import them for sweeping our streets, driving our buses, nursing our sick, and manning our factories because we have become too prosperous and lazy to do menial task?
Our officials should leave their luxurious bungalows one evening and take a stroll through the housing estates, particularly in the Tiong Bahru-Redhill area, to have a foretaste of what living with four million people in the island will be like.
They will perhaps then advocate the doubling or trebling of our efforts in birth control, instead of planning for a population of four million.
It has been estimated not long ago that the vast Soviet Union had only about 500,000 cars.
For us, a mere pin prick on the globe, to try to match the number of cars possessed by a super power is sheer madness.
The environment of this tiny island will already be severely polluted by the presence of four million people. To pollute it further by 500,000 cars will simply be intolerable.
It is about time we start putting severe curbs on car ownership.
Let us realise that additional car ownership will only be a drain on our financial resources, and a wastage of land in road building.
We do not, and never will be able to make cars to give employment to our people. We do not have the infrastructure nor the home demand to support a car manufacturing industry.
Let us make a realistic assessment of our place in the world, and not get too swell-headed.
There are two ways of making a suit of clothes fit: by making a new expensive suit to fit a fat belly, or by keeping a neat and trim figure. I am all for the latter.
Source: Singapore Herald, May 1, 1971
By Henry L Pau, Singapore
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Purpose of the Blog
In a nutshell, the purpose of this blog is to review the results of predictions which people made a decade or two ago; about things which they visualised as "the future" and has now become the "present" or the "past".
Some of these predictions included those from doomsdays soothsayers about the end of the world; the "Millennium Bug" in Year 2000 which was expected to create havoc to the computerised world and other scary earth-shattering future vision of mankind.
Are these predictions made by people based on the figments of their imagination?
Does the means justify the ends? Over time, does perceptions change?
In simple terms, it is about perception, time and space....
As an experimental project, I will base my research on material in the public domain from printed publications, the Internet and relevant contributions from readers.
The blog format will be tweaked and fine-tuned as we move along.
Whilst relevant blog topics will be selected discriminately to reflect changing circumstances, changing environment and changing lifestyles, they are not intended for criticism on the merits or demerits of these public issues under discussion.
The blog topics are selected based on an educational perspective of events of the past; particularly those where useful lessons can be derived.
The "vision of the future" as presented two or three decades ago have been overtaken by historical events; just as what is defined as the "future" looking forward to the next several decades would eventually become the "past". In the process, the lessons learned are the valuable experience earned; as what our forefathers have imparted to us.
Some of these predictions included those from doomsdays soothsayers about the end of the world; the "Millennium Bug" in Year 2000 which was expected to create havoc to the computerised world and other scary earth-shattering future vision of mankind.
Are these predictions made by people based on the figments of their imagination?
Does the means justify the ends? Over time, does perceptions change?
In simple terms, it is about perception, time and space....
As an experimental project, I will base my research on material in the public domain from printed publications, the Internet and relevant contributions from readers.
The blog format will be tweaked and fine-tuned as we move along.
Whilst relevant blog topics will be selected discriminately to reflect changing circumstances, changing environment and changing lifestyles, they are not intended for criticism on the merits or demerits of these public issues under discussion.
The blog topics are selected based on an educational perspective of events of the past; particularly those where useful lessons can be derived.
The "vision of the future" as presented two or three decades ago have been overtaken by historical events; just as what is defined as the "future" looking forward to the next several decades would eventually become the "past". In the process, the lessons learned are the valuable experience earned; as what our forefathers have imparted to us.
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Present is the Future of the Past
The blog name is quite a mouthful, I know.
It is not easy these days to register a simple, short, catchy and easy-to-remember blog name because the good ones have already been taken up by active bloggers or are parked away for future use as and when a nice name strikes them. Registration of preferred blog name in Blogger is on a "first come first served" basis.
Initially, I wanted to register this blog as "todayisthetomorrowofyesterday" but another blogger had beaten me to it. Whether the selected blog name is relevant to the topics he blog about is another matter.
On hindsight, "thepresentisthefutureofthepast" with 30 letters is a more suitable choice.
1. It is 1 letter more than the previous selection; and it sounds good (to me, at least :)
2. It is an experimental concept for the study of 'perceptions' from an individual's perspective.
3. It is about how the "future" becomes the "past" with the passage of time.
It is not easy these days to register a simple, short, catchy and easy-to-remember blog name because the good ones have already been taken up by active bloggers or are parked away for future use as and when a nice name strikes them. Registration of preferred blog name in Blogger is on a "first come first served" basis.
Initially, I wanted to register this blog as "todayisthetomorrowofyesterday" but another blogger had beaten me to it. Whether the selected blog name is relevant to the topics he blog about is another matter.
On hindsight, "thepresentisthefutureofthepast" with 30 letters is a more suitable choice.
1. It is 1 letter more than the previous selection; and it sounds good (to me, at least :)
2. It is an experimental concept for the study of 'perceptions' from an individual's perspective.
3. It is about how the "future" becomes the "past" with the passage of time.
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