It doesn’t matter how many times you have traversed Union Square; no one knows which way is north, or where The Westin is in relation to the Ritz Carlton. A Verizon outage brought that into focus on Wednesday.
Imagine a world where, instead of relying on a small box three inches in front of your face, you had to actually ask a fellow human being for directions?
That’s the challenge that faced many attendees of the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, as a country-wide Verizon outage put 60% of customers in the dark.
On street corners, in elevators and outside of hotel meeting rooms, people complained that they—gasp—had to use good old-fashioned directions. It doesn’t matter how many times you have traversed Union Square; no one knows which way is north or where The Westin is in relation to the Ritz-Carlton.
Have the hills always been this steep? Or did we just not notice because we were able to call an Uber?
One communications pro described popping in and out of hotel lobbies to grab a wifi signal long enough to figure out her next move. An executive in an elevator recoiled in horror at the idea that he might have to ask someone for physical directions. Or that he might—shudder—need to use a paper map.
BioSpace’s own Dan Samorodnitsky, himself a Verizon customer, was forced to use a library to access wifi to provide our readers with the quality biopharma stories you’ve come to expect. When he tried to buy a latte to use a café’s wifi, he discovered to his complete dismay that the shop was closing in 10 minutes.
It all goes to show that even the smartest people in the world—the scientists, execs and industry experts who create groundbreaking medicines—don’t know which way is which.
What a humbling experience for us all.
