Let me quickly say that I love my computer. I don't want it to get mad at me and it is a bit cranky today. Actually, it is not the computer, it is the whole internet issue.
I gave just spent almost 2 hours getting my email. I only bothered because I am expecting something important. I kept losing connections and very bizarre things. It deleted the one thing I wanted without me touching the keyboard and it took a very long time to retrieve it from the deleted file/ This got me wondering just how much time is lost each day through such malfunctions.
We were told that all this technology would streamline all procedures, eliminating much paperwork and freeing workers for more creative tasks. Now, constantly, I run into situations where computers are down or internet connections are overloaded and business and other works slow to a crawl. Information gets lost and important issues, sometimes just get wiped out. They disappear, lost in some alternate universe, I suppose. Occasionally they pop back into our reality, more often not.
Part of the issue is simple, but I do not believe it will be solved anytime soon. There is just to much stiff being sent over the internet. It was initially designed to disseminate technological and scientific data, Then businesses started using it and that was fine. Now, we have the ridiculous use of social sites and there is just too much junk being sent.
Back in the dark ages, not many tears ago, if little Alice wanted to tell her folks how her Economics exam went, she picked yo a phone and called, not texted or tweeted. Of Cousin Sally wanted you to see h,er new baby or Uncle Fred wanted you to see his new car, they sent photographs. I know that sounds primitive, but it worked. It was nice. You do not have to see or know everything the instant it happens. Delayed gratification is very sweet.
What will happen? People could wise up and stay off their computers a bit. That likely will nor happen. The Government could step in and demand that internet providers charge more and thus limit usage.. They can do this by increasing taxes on companies like ARR and Comcast, or they could charge companies like Facebook a huge licensing fee that they would, of course, pass on to the customers.
Or, the whole thing might just collapse under its own weight. As demands increase, the systems will have to become more complex. Chaos theory states that any system that grows too complex will break down. Then, we will see what can be dome with the remnants.
Until then, I suppose we all will just have to put up with what is an increasingly more complex systen that, here and there just does really strange things.
To alter Shakespeare a little, the fault lies not in our computers, the fault lies in ourselves.
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Monday, September 10, 2018
Thursday, August 2, 2018
Confusion
Confusion will be my epitaph.King Crimson, Tomorrow We'll Be Crying. From In The Court of the Crimson King
I am astounded that the World even still works. I have been trying the last few days to work out a few simple things. Simple. Things that used to take 5 minutes now require hours even days of angst and debate.
I was told, as I am sure you were, that computers would simplify and streamline. They most definitely have not.People have lost the ability to think. They just read the screen and hit the buttons. If anything varies from that routine, they are lost. The response is mixed. Some, not many, admit that they don't know and call a supervisor. That person may or may not know what's happening, but, if you go high enough ip the ladder, things are worked out. Usually..
Then you have those who refuse to admit that they don't know. That's when the fun starts. I have had many, many folks sit there and openly lie, coming up with the most ridiculous explanations. Thins that make less than no sense, logic so twisted that it makes pretzels look linear It would be great fun if I didn't need to get some things done quickly.
I often think that the high speed flashing of the computer screen numbs the brain. There is some scientific basis to that idea. Either that or we have just become so lazy that we refuse to think.
Either that or some evil wizard has cast a spell or thrown some magic dust in the air that is making humans into mindless drones.
Or, maybe all 3.
The funny thing is that if you ask any if these incompetent workers, they will tell you that they are
doing a bang up job, A!. The sad thing is, their bosses would agree. In fairness to them. they have trouble just getting workers to show up.
This is so sad.
But, cheer up. This cannot continue much longer or confusion will be replaced by anarchy and then, the whole Nation goes down the drain.
My God's Blessings be with you. And, mat God help us all.
I am astounded that the World even still works. I have been trying the last few days to work out a few simple things. Simple. Things that used to take 5 minutes now require hours even days of angst and debate.
I was told, as I am sure you were, that computers would simplify and streamline. They most definitely have not.People have lost the ability to think. They just read the screen and hit the buttons. If anything varies from that routine, they are lost. The response is mixed. Some, not many, admit that they don't know and call a supervisor. That person may or may not know what's happening, but, if you go high enough ip the ladder, things are worked out. Usually..
Then you have those who refuse to admit that they don't know. That's when the fun starts. I have had many, many folks sit there and openly lie, coming up with the most ridiculous explanations. Thins that make less than no sense, logic so twisted that it makes pretzels look linear It would be great fun if I didn't need to get some things done quickly.
I often think that the high speed flashing of the computer screen numbs the brain. There is some scientific basis to that idea. Either that or we have just become so lazy that we refuse to think.
Either that or some evil wizard has cast a spell or thrown some magic dust in the air that is making humans into mindless drones.
Or, maybe all 3.
The funny thing is that if you ask any if these incompetent workers, they will tell you that they are
doing a bang up job, A!. The sad thing is, their bosses would agree. In fairness to them. they have trouble just getting workers to show up.
This is so sad.
But, cheer up. This cannot continue much longer or confusion will be replaced by anarchy and then, the whole Nation goes down the drain.
My God's Blessings be with you. And, mat God help us all.
Wednesday, December 16, 2015
America on Line - Part 2
I want to reiterate. I am in no way suggesting that we abandon computers and the Internet, They are too useful as tools. Obviously, I am using them myself. But, we must control the technology and not allow it to control us. More specifically, we must not allow those who control the technology to control us.
Change is a Universal constant, but at an organic level, at the level of human consciousness, the pace is usually comfortable. We can adapt and, when catastrophic change occurs, we have some energy and some solid mental ground to stand on. The pace of the World has been changed and now we lurch forward at breakneck speed, hell bent for, well, for what, we don't know. This is the essence of stress and when you stress anything enough, be it a steel bar, a belief system, or a human being, it snaps. Why are things being driven this way?
Well, it all started as a push toward money and power. If you break a human, you control him and, if a few die along the way, from that point of view, no problem. There are plenty of people, plenty of customers, and, some would argue, there are too many, so losing some is a bonus. Humans placed under this sort of stress react two ways.
First, fight; rebel; and turn back things to a time when things were under control and your particular group was great. This is what we see in all of the various terrorist groups. Their ideology may be radically different, but that is unimportant. Their thrust, their goal is the same. Win or destroy everything, anything to stop what they perceive as unacceptable madness.
Nothing new there; Hitler wanted to return Germany to the glory days of per-Christian paganism (they weren't that glorious, but nostalgia for days that never were is a common emotion). When it became clear that no such thing was going to happen, he was content to see the nation destroyed rather than concede defeat. Blessedly, he did not develop atomic weapons and accurate delivery systems or we would all, now, be glowing in the dark This is what is happening with ISIL, Right now they are in their conquest phase, but soon, inevitably, for you cannot turn back time, they will see that they will not win and I will bet large sums of money (if I had them) that they will see to the ruin of the lands they claim to represent. Hopefully, we will keep devastating weapons out of their hands. And, we Americans should not be too smug. We still have a strong White Supremacy/ Christian Identity movement in this Country that is quiet now, but can grow dangerously active quickly.
ISIL and theses other groups are not, as they claim, reacting to immorality and decadence. Yes, they see this on the Internet and are revolted with it, but there is more. They are not even really reacting to the obscene discrepancy between the rich and poor. They are reacting to a World that is changing so fast that they cannot keep up, a World that seems to have no place for them. Many others are feeling the same and I wonder when the whole mess will boil over.
On a more individual level, we are replacing real interpersonal relations with virtual relationships. Email is fine for business, but what ever happened to writing notes and letters to friends and families. The act of putting pen to paper and guiding it with your hand transfers some of you to the writing. Making a phone call, using your voice, gives a part of you to the other party; texting gives them nothing but shorthand thoughts, transferred bits of cold information. Facebook allows you to claim as "friends" people with whom you have never shared a real moment of human contact.
Just recently, I saw a feature on the news about a very disturbing trend in Japan. People there have become captivated by robotic dogs. They want something fuzzy to hold and talk to, without the bother of relating to a real, living creature.
In this Country, when porn hit the Internet, it exploded. I guess it is still big; I don't keep track of such things. Why the boom? Because it gives the illusion of sex without the bother of a relationship. However, you also miss the great joys of the real relationship. Now, we have the very distasteful phenomenon of sexting; having a sexual relationship by exchanging bit of electronic data. We want relationships without the bother of people.
I am convinced that we are entering a stage of cyber-Gnosticism, a rejection of the physical world for a "purer" world of the spirit. However, a mistake has been made. Spirit is more than bits of information. The old Gnostics knew that and knew that you had to live in this world to develop spirit. We are reducing ourselves to flashing, glittering pixels that spring to life when summoned, then fade back into a dark cyber-void until again called forth.
And, all the while, those who run the Internet get rich by keeping track of everything you do on line and selling the data, or using it themselves to gear marketing toward you. That marketing is so sophisticated that it becomes almost irresistible, urging us to buy more and more crap, more and more stupid gadgets that no sane person needs and that you really cannot afford.
Here, things get interesting. When you buy things you cannot afford, you go into debt and then you are controlled. Being in debt is a form of slavery. You must do as you are told or suffer dire consequences. The folks running the Internet don't care about that, but the ones who control them, the real Powers that Be, do. They use your debt and all of that other information gathered on line to tighten the noose, to create more strain, until you finally break.
At that point, when the nooses are all nice and snug, we will be reaching the end game, and next time, we will talk about that and I will offer a suggestion or two on how to resist. All is not lost, although time may be growing short
Change is a Universal constant, but at an organic level, at the level of human consciousness, the pace is usually comfortable. We can adapt and, when catastrophic change occurs, we have some energy and some solid mental ground to stand on. The pace of the World has been changed and now we lurch forward at breakneck speed, hell bent for, well, for what, we don't know. This is the essence of stress and when you stress anything enough, be it a steel bar, a belief system, or a human being, it snaps. Why are things being driven this way?
Well, it all started as a push toward money and power. If you break a human, you control him and, if a few die along the way, from that point of view, no problem. There are plenty of people, plenty of customers, and, some would argue, there are too many, so losing some is a bonus. Humans placed under this sort of stress react two ways.
First, fight; rebel; and turn back things to a time when things were under control and your particular group was great. This is what we see in all of the various terrorist groups. Their ideology may be radically different, but that is unimportant. Their thrust, their goal is the same. Win or destroy everything, anything to stop what they perceive as unacceptable madness.
Nothing new there; Hitler wanted to return Germany to the glory days of per-Christian paganism (they weren't that glorious, but nostalgia for days that never were is a common emotion). When it became clear that no such thing was going to happen, he was content to see the nation destroyed rather than concede defeat. Blessedly, he did not develop atomic weapons and accurate delivery systems or we would all, now, be glowing in the dark This is what is happening with ISIL, Right now they are in their conquest phase, but soon, inevitably, for you cannot turn back time, they will see that they will not win and I will bet large sums of money (if I had them) that they will see to the ruin of the lands they claim to represent. Hopefully, we will keep devastating weapons out of their hands. And, we Americans should not be too smug. We still have a strong White Supremacy/ Christian Identity movement in this Country that is quiet now, but can grow dangerously active quickly.
ISIL and theses other groups are not, as they claim, reacting to immorality and decadence. Yes, they see this on the Internet and are revolted with it, but there is more. They are not even really reacting to the obscene discrepancy between the rich and poor. They are reacting to a World that is changing so fast that they cannot keep up, a World that seems to have no place for them. Many others are feeling the same and I wonder when the whole mess will boil over.
On a more individual level, we are replacing real interpersonal relations with virtual relationships. Email is fine for business, but what ever happened to writing notes and letters to friends and families. The act of putting pen to paper and guiding it with your hand transfers some of you to the writing. Making a phone call, using your voice, gives a part of you to the other party; texting gives them nothing but shorthand thoughts, transferred bits of cold information. Facebook allows you to claim as "friends" people with whom you have never shared a real moment of human contact.
Just recently, I saw a feature on the news about a very disturbing trend in Japan. People there have become captivated by robotic dogs. They want something fuzzy to hold and talk to, without the bother of relating to a real, living creature.
In this Country, when porn hit the Internet, it exploded. I guess it is still big; I don't keep track of such things. Why the boom? Because it gives the illusion of sex without the bother of a relationship. However, you also miss the great joys of the real relationship. Now, we have the very distasteful phenomenon of sexting; having a sexual relationship by exchanging bit of electronic data. We want relationships without the bother of people.
I am convinced that we are entering a stage of cyber-Gnosticism, a rejection of the physical world for a "purer" world of the spirit. However, a mistake has been made. Spirit is more than bits of information. The old Gnostics knew that and knew that you had to live in this world to develop spirit. We are reducing ourselves to flashing, glittering pixels that spring to life when summoned, then fade back into a dark cyber-void until again called forth.
And, all the while, those who run the Internet get rich by keeping track of everything you do on line and selling the data, or using it themselves to gear marketing toward you. That marketing is so sophisticated that it becomes almost irresistible, urging us to buy more and more crap, more and more stupid gadgets that no sane person needs and that you really cannot afford.
Here, things get interesting. When you buy things you cannot afford, you go into debt and then you are controlled. Being in debt is a form of slavery. You must do as you are told or suffer dire consequences. The folks running the Internet don't care about that, but the ones who control them, the real Powers that Be, do. They use your debt and all of that other information gathered on line to tighten the noose, to create more strain, until you finally break.
At that point, when the nooses are all nice and snug, we will be reaching the end game, and next time, we will talk about that and I will offer a suggestion or two on how to resist. All is not lost, although time may be growing short
Tuesday, December 15, 2015
America on Line - Part 1
I stated in my last blog that I love technology, but that comes with a disclaimer. I love technology that is subjugated to human interests. More and more, I believe that we are allowing technology to dominate us.
Stephen King wrote a great story called The Tommyknockers which featured, as the villains a race of extraterrestrials who loved to tinker and build great gadgets, even though they didn't understand the science behind them and had no real purpose in building them. They just tinkered and mindlessly built a lot of junk and found uses for some of it. Of course, being a King novel, the uses were evil.
Are we much different? We build great electronic gear, but we still, if we are honest, really don't know what electricity is. We can say it is moving electrons, but, while we can describe some aspects of those electrons and use mathematics to explain some of their motions, we cannot say just what an electron is and its motions are, according to quantum mechanics, kind of sketchy. But, we build and build and a lot of the stuff we build is pretty useful.
So we have made machines of greater and greater complexity, all the while assuring ourselves that all would be to our benefit. It is not. Humans need to work, to be active, and here and there, to feel creative. We all love to complain about working but let me assure you, having recently gone through it, not having a job to go to each day is incredibly disorienting. Retirement is not easy to get used to even when you have reached the appropriate age.
Thanks to advances in technology, folks who have trained to do certain jobs, who take pride in their work, are being replaced by advances in technology. I recently read about the people who were working in Eastman Kodak's facility in Rochester, NY. The rise in digital technology which had led to the ubiquitous smart phone pictures has put them out of work. There are those who say that they just need to retrain and get new jobs, but what is there to do? Robotics have streamlined production to the point that few real humans need to do much and, as time passes, robots will do most everything. We will become a Nation of burger servers and Uber drivers and it will hit other, poorer countries harder. In Third World countries, folks work for next to nothing making clothes. What will happen when machines are sophisticated enough to measure, cut, and stitch material? If that cannot yet be done, hang in, it will be soon. Actually, I may be behind the times, and machines may be now making our clothes, things change so fast it is hard to keep up.
What will happen in those countries when people who are willingly working for slave wages are told they no longer will even have that? Heck, what will happen in this country? Corporations will tell you that they are responsible to investors and must find the lowest ways to produce their goods. I guess eliminating people altogether and sticking with robotics, from that view point is the way to go.
But what of the billions who are just eking by? What will they do? Well, pay attention folks, because here is where things get weird. Look up, on your computer, The Georgia Guidestones. This monument, paid for by some anonymous donor, seems to be a statement of purpose, a plan for recreating the World, and one of its goals is to limit the World's population to 500000000, a half billion. To get there would require eliminating about 6 billion humans. Now, I have trouble believing that the sponsors of this program are going to patiently wait for birth control to lower the population. And this is not just the work of some loan, rich nut. Other groups have echoed similar sentiments, many of them men and women with great power and influence. Think David Rockefeller kind of rich and influential.
How will those goals be accomplished? I don't have a clue, bur I am fairly sure that it won't be pleasant. Sometimes I think that the primary way will be to simply convince everyone that they are meaningless and let angry despair set off a wide range of disasters. This is some, not all, but some, of the driving force behind the great allure of terrorism. If someone feels worthless, the idea of pleasing some angry deity by killing themselves and others becomes a little more understandable.
So next time you think of how great all your gadgets are and how wonderful our computerized world is, think again. All things in this world are a blend of good and evil. Any thing that purports to be a great boon to man will come with a Devil's Price. What will the future bring? Who knows? Remember Frank Herbert's book, Dune. The story is set in a time when man, tired of being ruled by machines has rebelled and fought a long war against the robots, finally winning and banning thinking machines forever.
In Part 2, I will talk a bit more about what our compulsive use of technology is doing to our souls. Remember, technology is fine, as long as we remain the bosses.
Stephen King wrote a great story called The Tommyknockers which featured, as the villains a race of extraterrestrials who loved to tinker and build great gadgets, even though they didn't understand the science behind them and had no real purpose in building them. They just tinkered and mindlessly built a lot of junk and found uses for some of it. Of course, being a King novel, the uses were evil.
Are we much different? We build great electronic gear, but we still, if we are honest, really don't know what electricity is. We can say it is moving electrons, but, while we can describe some aspects of those electrons and use mathematics to explain some of their motions, we cannot say just what an electron is and its motions are, according to quantum mechanics, kind of sketchy. But, we build and build and a lot of the stuff we build is pretty useful.
So we have made machines of greater and greater complexity, all the while assuring ourselves that all would be to our benefit. It is not. Humans need to work, to be active, and here and there, to feel creative. We all love to complain about working but let me assure you, having recently gone through it, not having a job to go to each day is incredibly disorienting. Retirement is not easy to get used to even when you have reached the appropriate age.
Thanks to advances in technology, folks who have trained to do certain jobs, who take pride in their work, are being replaced by advances in technology. I recently read about the people who were working in Eastman Kodak's facility in Rochester, NY. The rise in digital technology which had led to the ubiquitous smart phone pictures has put them out of work. There are those who say that they just need to retrain and get new jobs, but what is there to do? Robotics have streamlined production to the point that few real humans need to do much and, as time passes, robots will do most everything. We will become a Nation of burger servers and Uber drivers and it will hit other, poorer countries harder. In Third World countries, folks work for next to nothing making clothes. What will happen when machines are sophisticated enough to measure, cut, and stitch material? If that cannot yet be done, hang in, it will be soon. Actually, I may be behind the times, and machines may be now making our clothes, things change so fast it is hard to keep up.
What will happen in those countries when people who are willingly working for slave wages are told they no longer will even have that? Heck, what will happen in this country? Corporations will tell you that they are responsible to investors and must find the lowest ways to produce their goods. I guess eliminating people altogether and sticking with robotics, from that view point is the way to go.
But what of the billions who are just eking by? What will they do? Well, pay attention folks, because here is where things get weird. Look up, on your computer, The Georgia Guidestones. This monument, paid for by some anonymous donor, seems to be a statement of purpose, a plan for recreating the World, and one of its goals is to limit the World's population to 500000000, a half billion. To get there would require eliminating about 6 billion humans. Now, I have trouble believing that the sponsors of this program are going to patiently wait for birth control to lower the population. And this is not just the work of some loan, rich nut. Other groups have echoed similar sentiments, many of them men and women with great power and influence. Think David Rockefeller kind of rich and influential.
How will those goals be accomplished? I don't have a clue, bur I am fairly sure that it won't be pleasant. Sometimes I think that the primary way will be to simply convince everyone that they are meaningless and let angry despair set off a wide range of disasters. This is some, not all, but some, of the driving force behind the great allure of terrorism. If someone feels worthless, the idea of pleasing some angry deity by killing themselves and others becomes a little more understandable.
So next time you think of how great all your gadgets are and how wonderful our computerized world is, think again. All things in this world are a blend of good and evil. Any thing that purports to be a great boon to man will come with a Devil's Price. What will the future bring? Who knows? Remember Frank Herbert's book, Dune. The story is set in a time when man, tired of being ruled by machines has rebelled and fought a long war against the robots, finally winning and banning thinking machines forever.
In Part 2, I will talk a bit more about what our compulsive use of technology is doing to our souls. Remember, technology is fine, as long as we remain the bosses.
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