Thinking out loud
The Internet
I don't always write about Art, although this is the primary purpose of this blog....I do from time to time think about all the years I spent teaching and working with people and I recall situations and insights that sometimes makes me smile and at other times grimace from intense embarrassment or shudder at the precariousness of life. Today I was working on another blog and after several failed attempts to save some text, I sat and pondered the predicament that I found myself in. The network was 'down', apparently.
It reminded me of the time when our server was not working in a particular school and we were almost completely paralysed. No emails, no contact with parents, registers not working...it felt horrible and there was a real sense that things could be happening all over the place and we would never know. The safety of the students can be seriously compromised if we do not know where they are, whether they are attending a particular class, if an incident has occurred that could not be recorded, if, if, if...
Not knowing, when you should know is a frightening place in all areas of our lives. Thing is, in most areas of our lives technology is now the connecting corridor to knowing. Today I had the same sense that we have built a boat out of a soluble material. It sails just fine...for a little while. Then as it begins to dissolve half way across a vast ocean, we find ourselves frantically trying to make it waterproof. It really is a bit like setting off across a desert but with enough water to get us through a day.
So, my question is: how do we proceed? Do we frantically patch up our vessel as it dissolves all around us? Or do we say: "You know what? This ship's not working, so for pity's sake let's go back and start again?"
Business and Technology experts would look at me in utter disbelief if I suggested that we are sailing a doomed ship and that going back should be on the table. Realism also tells me that we just have to keep on making the best of this thing that connects us all, sees all and has no conscience. This Web thing and the supercomputers that are being tested (such as IBM Watson), this-almost-inevitably-to-become-self-directing-thing, is there because it processes an infinite amount of data across our planet. How will we plug the gaps in our understanding of this titan when the inevitable happens? Pulling the plug will not do it.
Just thinking out loud.
'Out in the wild' Digital Print
I don't always write about Art, although this is the primary purpose of this blog....I do from time to time think about all the years I spent teaching and working with people and I recall situations and insights that sometimes makes me smile and at other times grimace from intense embarrassment or shudder at the precariousness of life. Today I was working on another blog and after several failed attempts to save some text, I sat and pondered the predicament that I found myself in. The network was 'down', apparently.
It reminded me of the time when our server was not working in a particular school and we were almost completely paralysed. No emails, no contact with parents, registers not working...it felt horrible and there was a real sense that things could be happening all over the place and we would never know. The safety of the students can be seriously compromised if we do not know where they are, whether they are attending a particular class, if an incident has occurred that could not be recorded, if, if, if...
Not knowing, when you should know is a frightening place in all areas of our lives. Thing is, in most areas of our lives technology is now the connecting corridor to knowing. Today I had the same sense that we have built a boat out of a soluble material. It sails just fine...for a little while. Then as it begins to dissolve half way across a vast ocean, we find ourselves frantically trying to make it waterproof. It really is a bit like setting off across a desert but with enough water to get us through a day.
So, my question is: how do we proceed? Do we frantically patch up our vessel as it dissolves all around us? Or do we say: "You know what? This ship's not working, so for pity's sake let's go back and start again?"
Business and Technology experts would look at me in utter disbelief if I suggested that we are sailing a doomed ship and that going back should be on the table. Realism also tells me that we just have to keep on making the best of this thing that connects us all, sees all and has no conscience. This Web thing and the supercomputers that are being tested (such as IBM Watson), this-almost-inevitably-to-become-self-directing-thing, is there because it processes an infinite amount of data across our planet. How will we plug the gaps in our understanding of this titan when the inevitable happens? Pulling the plug will not do it.
Just thinking out loud.
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