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Area Codes, Other Codes

The speed at which some information i.e. area codes change compared to other information i.e. country codes.

What the codes represent, what falls outside of that representation? Why stop at countries - why is there no area code for the EU? What would it take to create an area code for Latin America? Or a large local employer? Given roaming charges, who benefits from more area codes? And who benefits from less?

Looking outwards - at what point do planetary or solar-system codes become part of the urban-galactic vocabulary? And looking within, what role do codes play in a world where fine grain information (such as DNA) is more widely accessible?

Related: ISO 3166 Country Codes. The photo of an out-of-date area code for London? From the Yak Hotel, Lhasa.

To what extent is it possible to rely on expert predictions, such as whether a country will disintegrate, and of course require new country codes? The inquisitive can start by downloading the Seminars About Long Term Thinking talk by Philip Tetlock entitled Why Foxes are Better Forecasters than Hedgehogs. Long. Worth while.

Writing from Tokyo | April 20, 2007 | Permalink