The Do Not Call Registry is Broken!
admin on Mar 23rd 2008
It probably seems strange to the people I know that I have started to write a blog. I really don’t enjoy talking to anyone. In american textbooks the man who invented the telephone is revered. You can see it everywhere you look people pack around cell phones as if they are an attachment of themselves. I on the other hand don’t fit nicely into that niche. I really honestly believe the telephone is among the worst inventions ever to plague mankind. Sure it has its good points, but as a whole it hurts human development.
If you take a room full of people (say a jury for instance) and give them a topic to argue about, eventually everyone will come to a consensus. This is a powerful tool when deciding legislation as it finds ways to be fair to almost everyone. However say among this group you needed to develop a creative new idea. Almost instantaneously all creative developments get averaged out among the group. Unique individual advancement cannot thrive within a strongly connected network.
To relate this phenomenon to computers concider a shared task networked between two computers. In this task both computers have been assigned half the work and they need to communicate their calculations regularly in order for the other computer to continue its operation. Now concider that both of these machines have equal specs. This creates a situation where both machines can perform optimally. Now change the scenario and make one computer run half as fast. What happens? Well now both computers can only do as much as the slower machine can. The combined eficiency of the entire network is only equal to the number of stations multiplied by the speed of the slowest station.
You’re probably thinking that this computer networking talk doesn’t really relate to people, but in fact it does. If you gather together a group of athletic teens to play basketball and then stick one guy in a wheelchair on the team, what happens? The guy in the wheelchair feels great to fit in. The rest of the team feels good about making him feel good, and we all picture this ideal world where everyone is equal. At the same time we turn a blind eye to the fact that we lose every game and spend alot of time talking about our teamwork. This shows both a good quality and a bad one of human nature. Its great that everyone wants to be connected, but it will ultimately be our downfall as a society. Picture two teens, Suzie only wants to hang out at the mall, and has no apirations. Jimmy is brilliant and could be an astronaut or engineer. He wants to study. Stick them together on the telephone. Jimmy and Suzie end up going to the mall.
My point in going into all of this is that its important for us as individuals to find a way to disconnect from the social network from time to time. You can call it “Me time” or simply think of it as shutting the door and focusing on your work. Many of the worlds greatest inventors are thought of historically as eccentric. What this eccentricity really means is that they didn’t conform to the societal network and found a way to explore a separate path amidst their group. Not everyone is capable of producing something great, but even those who are won’t be able to do it stifled within the boundaries of polite society.
A number of years back I believe that someone higher up on the political chain recognized that there are people out there like me who feel the need to not be connected all the time. Getting back to what todays blog is about, there are times when I simply don’t want the phone to ring. (more often than not) I need to have it there for an emergency. I can forgive an interruption if someone is in the hospital or something like that. However telemarketers really aren’t someone I need to connect with. A national do not call registry was created for people like me who simply don’t want to be disturbed with stuff like that.
At first the do not call registry worked surprisingly well. I suppose the threat of bieng fined thousands of dollars got some of the more aggressive companies to back off. What prompted todays rant is how the registry is beginning to fail. I don’t know whether the law has changed, or if telemarketers are beginning to find loopholes in the law, but I have started getting regular solicitations again. I count five this week alone. I have dutifully reported each occurance in a despirate hope that someone will find these callers and leave their corpses in a ditch somewhere. I know its hopeless though.
A word of advice to those of you still calling me… I really don’t care if you are collecting money for breast cancer research, the local fire department, or just to put it in your bank account. I put my name on the do not call registry because I DONT WANT TO BE CALLLED! I make it a habbit to NEVER EVER give any money to anyone who cold calls me.
As for the politician who drafted the bill, you need to go back and fix your work. You left one big gaping loophole in your bill. The part where it exempts non-profit organizations and surveys from bieng fined for calling me is just wrong. They are soliciting me just the same as everyone else. Do your constituents a favor and fix it!
Keep up the good work.