Siren songs of a better tomorrow
I’ve been thinking lately about the perils of “bionic duckweed”, says Tim Harford. It’s a term minted by railway expert Roger Ford in 2008, to express his frustration at the way officials were putting off essential investment in rail electrification because they were holding out for the arrival of plant-derived fuel. His point is that waiting for the next breakthrough often stymies needed action today. And looking at how often politicians make use of “bionic duckweed”, it rings painfully true. Sometimes, they do it in bad faith, like the small-government types in the US who block investment in mass transit systems by claiming autonomous cars are just around the corner. Others do it out of wishful thinking: how else to describe Boris Johnson’s blithe assurance that a solution to the problem of frictionless trade at the Northern Irish border would be found. But most often, it serves as cover for prevarication: why install solar power now, when it’ll be cheaper next year? “Not all bionic duckweed is evil. But even the good stuff slows us down.”
During the pandemic, the Scottish Championship football team Inverness Caledonian Thistle has been live-streaming its games to fans at home, using an automatic camera system with advanced “AI balltracking technology”. Alas, a crucial flaw in the technology emerged during a recent game against Ayr United. It proved unable to distinguish between the ball and another shiny white object on the field: the linesman’s bald head. Fans complained that they had missed the build-up to Ayr’s goal as the camera “kept thinking the Lino’s bald head was the ball”.
A Brazilian senator suspected of corruption resigned after police raided his home and found him with more than £4,400 stuffed inside his underwear. Chico Rodrigues, who is an ally of President Bolsonaro and was suspected of misappropriating Covid-19 funds, had what police described as “a large rectangular bulge” under his shorts. On request, he reached into his underwear and removed stack after stack of notes. “It was a scene of considerable embarrassment,” reported Revista Crusoé, the magazine which broke the story.