WorldWide Drilling Resource

The Un-Comfort Zone II by Robert Evans Wilson, Jr. Here’s What You Need to Change the World ~ The tipping point is closer than you think. I recall, back in 1995, trying to decide whether or not to get an Internet account. I only knew two or three people who had them. E-mail sounded like a cool idea, but you still needed to pick up the phone to get in touch with someone. (Remember when the question was: “Do you have an e-mail address?” instead of: “What is your e-mail ad- dress?”) Getting on “The Net” seemed like a good idea for my writing business, es- pecially for purposes of research. I just wasn’t sure it was worth the money. Back then, you bought time on theWorldWideWeb by the hour, and it was deducted by the minute. If you downloaded a file that was too large, you might use up your entire monthly al- lotment. I really wanted it, but I needed to justify spending the money. My justification arrived after a phone call with a new client. A magazine publisher in Texas wanted me to write some articles for him. During the conversation he said, “I only work with writers who are on e-mail.” I made my decision in that moment. The publisher called me back the next day and said he forgot to ask for my e-mail address, by which time, I had one. Not too long after, I went to see the movie Braveheart . When I got home I wanted to know more about William Wallace, so I went onto Netscape and searched the Web. I found an article about him on the website of a library in Scotland. I was so excited to be getting information from such a long distance away, I called my wife into my office to show her. When I look back on it I wonder, if I had not had a business reason to be on the Internet, how long would it have taken me to do it? According to Everett Rogers, who created the diffusion of innovations theory, the tipping point for mass market acceptance of an idea occurs when 15- 18% of the participants in a social network have tried it first. So, if we consider Dunbar’s !+34# 0/4#/# 2 #,'23(+'-& ((+%' 0& '/&'230/ 2#/ '/&'230/ $+4%0+/%20& *04.#+- %0. 777 $+4%0+/% 53 '7 3'& +43 0-' 1'/'23 2#) +43 "+/)3 #..'23 #..'2 +43 +6'24'23 ' 4+11+/) 4#$+-+8'23 -#7 +43 +1' "+1'3 0-4 0/ ''4* 5$3 Wilson cont’d on page 34. 26 JANUARY 2017 WorldWide Drilling Resource ®