When I’m driving, I often think about my circle of trafficular* influence. If I make a decision to change lanes on a highway, for instance, how far would you have to go before my decision would not influence even the slightest change in traffic patterns? Clearly, the cars immediately surrounding me would have to modify their behavior, and likewise the cars immediately around those cars. Our highway systems is extremely interconnected, could my decision to change lanes ultimately result in the slight modification in traffic somewhere very far away?
Of course, the larger the decision the bigger the impact. If I snake through traffic and cause three accidents, those accidents will likely have a substantial circle of influence. I wonder if anyone’s done computer simulations to test this… or if it’s even possible to test.
Either way, I think it’s a fun concept to think about.
*NICE.
Authored by:
mike d.