The folks at the Prometheus Institute* recently ran a great post on “if the US Government were run by Apple…”
It’s pretty humorous (and either slightly sad given what doesn’t happen despite the available tools or slightly scary to think that Steve Jobs may be planning a coup).
My favourites:
- There would be a three hour wait to get the latest $5 bill. It would also feature a web 2.0 gradient.
- Instead of a Social Security number, all newborns would receive a free MobileMe account.
- The cabinet would add the Department for Ergonomic Design, including a new position called theSecretary of Feng Shui. The office would debate the merits of using Arial versus Helvetica on street signs. Additionally, the Lincoln Bedroom would be upgraded with a mini rock waterfall and tiny Bonsai trees.
- Steve Jobs’ face would inexplicably appear next to Roosevelt’s on Mt. Rushmore.
- “In God We Trust” would be changed to “Getting Things Done”.
I thought I’d take it one step further and theorize what would happen “if the United Nations were run by Google.”
- The Chinese and Russians would withdraw their vetoes against sanctions on Zimbabwe after Googling “Mugabe” ….
- The Millennium Development Goals would get crowdsourced.
- The Kyoto Protocol would be restructured with targets for member nations tied to the number of servers each country possesses.
- The Russians would attempt to buy Google with oil money.
- The Security Council would fail to come to agreement on “Don’t be evil” and would instead adopt “Google first, Act later.”
*Authors’ note: The Promethean Institute is a libertarian public policy think tank based in Orange County, California. I am neither libertarian nor Californian and by virtue of being Canadian, less good looking but definitely more in-touch with my socialist side.