Density, volume and time: How to make them work together

At some point in time we have all experienced this. “This”, is the convergence of volume and time at a specific point when they become uniquely at at odds with each other.  Generally, to be at odds with each other,  volume and time are forced to acknowledge each other over a cup of tea we call space. In truth, volume and time often exist ignorant of each others existence. They are only forced to acknowledge each other when there is an abundance of volume and a scarcity of space.  Let’s take for example M&Ms. And let’s add a funnel to the equation. If one is to place a funnel over a jar into which we would like to store our variously colored, yet uniformly sized M&Ms — the trick to getting those M&Ms into that jar in the most efficient manner is to keep the volume of the flow of these cute little candies rolling into that funnel at a constant rate. If done properly, those little M&Ms will be jarred in no time without much fanfare.  But for time and volume to avoid colliding in undesirable ways, i.e. slowing or clogging the flow of the M&Ms out the bottom of the funnel, careful attention must be paid to the volume of the M&Ms going into the top of the funnel over a given period of time so that they can all make their way out of the bottom of the funnel.

However, we have all at some point or another, wanted to get those guys in their jar faster than the funnel would allow, and invariably we have all clogged the funnel and been forced to stop the process, leading to a pinky-jab up into the underside of our poor funnel to get the flow, or volume relative to time, back in balance. As with M&Ms, cars on a road may experience a similar phenomenon. When the volume of traffic is granted enough space to move consistently and relatively freely over reasonable  time frames, cars, pedestrians, bikers, etc. can all maintain an efficient and constant flow. It is when we begin to add volume with out respect to time, that we run into problems. But for these problems, there is no pinky finger fix.  We are ultimately left with traffic jams and headaches.

Let’s jump back to our M&Ms for a second. We know M&Ms are virtually uniform in their shape but they do come in different colors, however, the range of those colors is relatively small.  Now let’s imagine that we could tell M&Ms to group according to color and  instictively they did. And what if we took it a step further and asked those now distinctively grouped M&M’s to get into groups of three and four only with M&Ms of their same color. And what if we asked them to reduce their overall quantity by melting into each other in groups of 3 or 4, still preserving the purity and variety of their respective colors, but melding into less volume, higher density populations.  We could then feed those larger (more dense) M&Ms down the funnel at the same rate (volume over time) as we did before, but end up with more M&Ms per ounce in our jar in less time, all the while avoiding the unwanted collision of volume and time that leads to blockage.

I know, of course it’s a crazy idea to think of M&Ms as being able to perform such acts but what if we didn’t apply this magic to M&Ms but instead to say, taxi commuters in dense urban environments during the mid morning rush, where every morning, without fail, volume and time collide with frustrating consistency. We could group commuters headed to similar/nearby destinations together (same colored M&Ms), we could ask them to meld into each other (creating denser M&Ms), we could expect that the volume would be relatively similar every day and we could reasonably expect that those very same cars and taxis (uniformly sized M&Ms) which used to create traffic jams due to the conflict between volume and time, could be avoided by trading volume for density.   This is not rocket science. Applying a well organized grouping method that respected the relationship between volume and time, could measurably improve the function of dense urban environments, particularly during times of the day when there will be a predictable imbalance of volume and time. Density is honestly the solution. Density when reorganized, prearranged and predesignated can allow for smoothly flowing funnels. It does not always have to be this way.