I
believe we are living in the dawn of technology. What seems
amazing to us today will pale by comparison in the near
future. I have an analogy that we are living in a time that
is equivalent to about 50 years after the inventions of the
plough and the steam engine. Who could tell back then that
they would herald in an industrial revolution?
Hopefully, this time, the revolution will be more
egalitarian but it will be different. People with no sight
will be able to see, people without limbs will be able to
function fully as if they did.
Computers of today are great but they hurt my neck when I
sit here too long, and they crash and lose my stuff.
Viruses are still let loose, and most people don’t know how
to use even a fraction of what they have sitting in front
of them. And they are not interested in doing so, cause
they’re still hard to use, and they are inconsistent - yes
- even Apple’s.
I enjoy teaching people to use computers who have never
used them before. The questions I get asked really beg some
thought.
Why do I have to click this once, this twice? Why do I have
to click this on the typewriter and click this on the
screen? Why do I have to run this program to do this and
another to do that? How do I remember what does what?
Still they are making progress and are able to read my
jokes and send me some too. Sometimes with pictures, rarely
with videos.
Communications have come some way since the break-up of
AT&T. Oh wait, they’re back. How did that happen, and
why am I paying a ton of money each month for
communications that really should be cheap - and fast! It’s
neither.
But I think the future will be ok so long as we resist
monopolies and push for standards that level the playing
field. The situation today is a lot like the railroad
barons of the late 19th century - who each built tracks on
which only their trains could run. The tracks were a
different size.
Dismal eh? Maybe I’ve been sitting at my computer too long.
Maybe my repetetive strain is showing up. I think I’ll go
and read a book.