A Quasi-Luddite Perspective
I will publish this right away without even checking the spelling because I'm having so much trouble getting into Blogspot.
I was planning on writing next about some depressing local news--and I will do that after this posting--it is news that disturbs me too much to ignore it--but then I couldn't get into this blog or any other. Either Blogspot had a connection problem--which happened once before in Scandanavia according to the help screens or some addresses have changed and my list of past links is not going to the correct server anymore. But the important thing is that in my house I have no tech support team to call to come fix the problem.
I'm lucky that I have some computer skills, albeit not particularly internet oriented skills. I can't afford to call the Geek Squad every time my own fumbling around doesn't solve a problem. And I, for all the limits of my skill set, have a short list of people who call me regularly in a panic over what is happening on their home computers. And the world is more and more dependent on the Internet.
A couple years ago I gave certain companies permission to deduct their monthly fees directly from my bank account. Now those companies want me to go on-line each month and release the payments instead of them making the electronic fund transfer. They make their request with confidence that everyone in the world now has access to the internet--and secure access at that. I'm not as confident as they are. Computers cost money and ISP's cost money. All kinds of organizations are trying to encourage internet access in different parts of the world, but I suspect that lack of access is not just in developing nations.
As a big fan of science fiction since childhood, I think of all the devices used on starships in my favorite programs and question whether those devices will ever be as reliable and user friendly as portrayed in fiction. The devices are appearing in our daily life--reliability is another issue....
I live in a village where electricity fails so often--and is out for such a long time--that the village government is trying to sue the electric company. My telephone land line has often been out for long periods of time. I had one cell phone that would only work from the adjoining villages but never from my home.
Potus (aka President Obama) had his twitter account hacked last week because he didn't use a good password. Some weeks I get three notices of my personal information having been jeopardized on some government or corporate database. Sunspots could disrupt all of our modern technology for extended periods of time. Malicious hackers could destroy our power grids without ever setting foot on our soil, although we, like Potus, are to blame for not protecting ourselves from their attacks.
Even if everyone in America had a computer and rudimentary knowledge of how to use it, and even if no bug ever bothered anyone ever again, I can't help but think back to 9/11 when everyone rushed to the Internet to find out what was happening and an awful lot of us found ourselves locked out.
Technology is addictive. We can certainly assume that the world will contine to move in the direction of the technology we glimpsed on those spaceships from Space Cadet through Serenity. But I vote for maintaining fallback positions. Hit save in every aspect of your life and hit it often.
I was planning on writing next about some depressing local news--and I will do that after this posting--it is news that disturbs me too much to ignore it--but then I couldn't get into this blog or any other. Either Blogspot had a connection problem--which happened once before in Scandanavia according to the help screens or some addresses have changed and my list of past links is not going to the correct server anymore. But the important thing is that in my house I have no tech support team to call to come fix the problem.
I'm lucky that I have some computer skills, albeit not particularly internet oriented skills. I can't afford to call the Geek Squad every time my own fumbling around doesn't solve a problem. And I, for all the limits of my skill set, have a short list of people who call me regularly in a panic over what is happening on their home computers. And the world is more and more dependent on the Internet.
A couple years ago I gave certain companies permission to deduct their monthly fees directly from my bank account. Now those companies want me to go on-line each month and release the payments instead of them making the electronic fund transfer. They make their request with confidence that everyone in the world now has access to the internet--and secure access at that. I'm not as confident as they are. Computers cost money and ISP's cost money. All kinds of organizations are trying to encourage internet access in different parts of the world, but I suspect that lack of access is not just in developing nations.
As a big fan of science fiction since childhood, I think of all the devices used on starships in my favorite programs and question whether those devices will ever be as reliable and user friendly as portrayed in fiction. The devices are appearing in our daily life--reliability is another issue....
I live in a village where electricity fails so often--and is out for such a long time--that the village government is trying to sue the electric company. My telephone land line has often been out for long periods of time. I had one cell phone that would only work from the adjoining villages but never from my home.
Potus (aka President Obama) had his twitter account hacked last week because he didn't use a good password. Some weeks I get three notices of my personal information having been jeopardized on some government or corporate database. Sunspots could disrupt all of our modern technology for extended periods of time. Malicious hackers could destroy our power grids without ever setting foot on our soil, although we, like Potus, are to blame for not protecting ourselves from their attacks.
Even if everyone in America had a computer and rudimentary knowledge of how to use it, and even if no bug ever bothered anyone ever again, I can't help but think back to 9/11 when everyone rushed to the Internet to find out what was happening and an awful lot of us found ourselves locked out.
Technology is addictive. We can certainly assume that the world will contine to move in the direction of the technology we glimpsed on those spaceships from Space Cadet through Serenity. But I vote for maintaining fallback positions. Hit save in every aspect of your life and hit it often.
Comments
Post a Comment