What if Volcano Eyjafjallajokull Keeps Erupting?

[Arik Johnson]

I read a short, interesting thought piece this morning on the socio-economic "What If" impacts of a natural disaster like the one currently subjecting Europe to a thrown-back transportation milieu of roughly 100 years due to continued eruptions by volcano Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland.

Angry gods and stochastic science aside, how would Europe (and the rest of the world) cope with an air travel ban that could last for several more days (or months)?

[Heath Gibson]

Arik,

To start with one might consider (as Cisco seems to be) the opportunities in telecommunications, especially video conferencing. See for example:
http://www.smartplanet.com/technology/blog/thinking-tech/cisco-sees...

[Suki Fuller]

Arik,

As Heath suggested the opportunity for a rise in telecommunications (video conferencing, etc) may happen but also companies may move office locations from EU to developing nations much more quickly...as it may potentially significantly cheaper.

[Janet Laane Effron]

Arik,

Great topic; based on the geologic history of Iceland, things could get worse before they get better. And a quick glance at some of the effects of the 1783 event there shows how widespread the impacts can be, from crop failures to deaths (in Ireland!) from volcanic gases.

Impacts are being felt beyond travel difficulties; supply chains in Asia are already being disrupted. See: http://m.themalaysianinsider.com/articles.php?id=60636-ash-cloud-di...

I think this situation is a good reminder that times when things go smoothly (economically, politically, natural events) are actually the outliers - complexity, change and surprises are the norms.

This discussion is giving some good food for thought (and, incidentally, is a good talking point for Intel Collab discussions about defining what CI does).

Janet

[Edward Allison]

Well... I just joined Polycom.... so.... :)

[Vivek Raghuvanshi]

Fascinating isn't it, what New Emerging Technology can do.