From the by M.D. Fletcher |
May 2009 |
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Technology is a wonderful thing. Back when I was memorizing the times table and practicing composition with my No. 2 pencil and Big chief tablet, I would have never dreamed that technology would have ever progressed beyond the 1949 Studebaker Commander. But then came computers, great big ones that took up whole buildings of space and had to be kept in continually climate controlled environments lest they overheat and, I suppose, burn down, though I never saw one actually do that. These things were fed punch cards made by key punch operators who spent all day meticulously making little rectangular holes in pieces of rectangular cardboard that the computer sucked up and spit out and in the process somehow gave the white-coated engineers the answers they wanted. It was a wonderful thing and everybody marveled at the technology. It was, however, about this time when the phrase "Garbage In, Garbage Out" entered the lexicon. It seemed that if for some reason, one or more of these little rectangular holes was left out or in the wrong spot or something, the whole thing could go very, very bad in very, very big ways. Eventually, the key punch operator vocation went the way of the blacksmith and we were blessed with the invention of the microchip. This was another huge advancement of technology that made possible all manner of things that today are in use everywhere. Like cell phones, which used to be most commonly found in the ears of adolescents, that have evolved into little tiny typewriters (remember those?) over which adolescents rack up huge telephone charges in the process of interacting with their BFF's. Like Black Berry's, et. al., which are really super cell phones with, among other things, access to the World Wide Web. These are very popularly in use among high-powered, up-and-coming executives determined to stay on top of their game on a 24/7 basis. You see them a lot in airports and rehab clinics. |
Like high definition flat screen satellite televisions, f'instance. These systems are a far cry from the 12" rabbit-eared black and white television sets (we used to call them "sets", as in "I got trouble with my set") I first saw as a callow youth. Nosiree, these 42" full vibrant color beauties can pick up well over 500 channels of viewing pleasure and even put 4 or 5 of them on the screen all at the same time. Of course, the quality of the programming content has deteriorated significantly since say, the Ed Sullivan Show, but that's beside my point, assuming I have one. The Silicon Revolution now permeates everything we do, from implanting a chip in Fido to traveling to the Moon to Mars and beyond. Virtually all societies in all countries in the world are in one way or another, players in this revolution and most benefit from it. But just as for every yin there is a yang, our utilization of and reliance upon these digital systems has a dark underbelly. Aside from making our teenagers appear dumber than usual, information gleaned from unwary individuals presents opportunities to those that would conspire to harm them personally, financially and/or socially through technological means. Business applications are vulnerable to these sinister intentions. It was recently reported that the nations' electrical grids could be at risk from hackers determined to disrupt our power operations and cause further damage to our economy. And it doesn't take very much garbage in to produce tremendous amounts of garbage out of our systems. Out of billions of lines of programming code, a single miniscule virus or even an inadvertent error can create havoc as an end result. Like our information system provider printing disconnect notices on 886 electric bills to 886 understandable irate members that have always paid their bills on time and didn't deserve it. Technology is a wonderful thing. Sometimes. |
