Here are some of the columns I wrote for Extreme in '95.
Index
"Our Dependence on Electronic Information" Originally published in the July '95 issue
"Least We Forget" Originally published in the June '95 issue
Our Dependence on Electronic Information
By Dave A. Law
Copyright (c) 1995
As the world becomes more technologically advanced, there seems to be a tendency to
become attached to the new technology we create. Who wants to depend upon an abacus when
you can use a calculator? The unfortunate side effect is that we start to use only the calculator
and forgot, or we are not even taught, the simpler methods of calculations. It is much the same
as far as information goes. Anyone who has ever used a computer has, at one time or another,
lost some document that he/she was working on because of power failure, computer crash or
some other disaster, simply because he/she forgot or was unable to make a backup copy of the
document. For this reason alone some people have tried to avoid using computers only to be
forced into them because of the advantages it offers: the ability to transmit documents easily over
the world and perhaps soon quite beyond it, the ability to save, retrieve and edit documents
without having to retype them. As our dependence on electronic information increases, one
almost wonders as if we are leaving something important behind.
Ever since computers started becoming common place in the office environment, there
has been a move towards what has been termed as a "paperless office", where there would no
longer be need for large file cabinets or even file rooms to keep documents in, where everything
would be done through the computer. Very few companies have achieved this yet, and most
have not made much progress in reducing their paper load, but this is the direction companies are
taking. One of the stalling points is that a piece of paper seems more transportable than a
computer. Admittedly, a person could retrieve a document and print a paper copy of it almost as
fast or faster than it takes to find the file folder with that document in it, but there is a certain
security in having that document in hand. You can take the paper document anywhere with you,
without having to carry around a laptop, or small computer, with you. Also people, especially
those timid about computers, feel more certain about having a document in hand than knowing,
or hoping, that it is part of the electronic information on some piece of machine that you have
little idea how it works. Someday, however, a laptop computer will be no bigger than your
wallet, computers will be everywhere, and the true paperless office will have come about, but
will we have lost something by doing it?
In the last few years, it is becoming increasingly less frequent to find people who have
not at least heard of the Internet. Some people feel overwhelmed and a bit intimidated by the
information you can find on it. Others, however, see it as the way of the future, where everyone
would be connected in a global community, where many of your business, shopping,
information, and leisure activities will take place. Someday you may be able to turn on your
computer and watch the latest news (from anywhere in the world), write up a report and e-mail it
to your boss, browse through an electronic mall, and then spend your leisure time between
watching sitcoms and wandering through the Internet for new and interesting places, all in
between answering telephone and electronic messages sent to you through your computer.
Currently, you cannot do this, but perhaps it will not be so long before you can, as telephone and
cable companies are looking to enter into each other's business areas in what has been called
convergence. In addition, various major companies are looking into getting onto the Internet to
sell their goods directly to the public. The obstacle in doing so, however, is that there is not yet a
secure way to send credit card information through the Internet without a risk of someone finding
it out. Several companies are working on ways to overcome the security problem. When all of
this does happen and all your information sources are electronic, one has to wonder what would
happen if your computer broke down, or worse yet the network you were connected to crashed,
and you had no way to fix it. Would you not feel cut off from the rest of the world?
We are entering an electronic information age where everything you could possibly need
or want, is at your finger tips. It can be addictive as anyone who first wanders through the
Internet can attest to. However, one has to wonder that we might some day become too
dependent on our computers for information and the risks of losing important information, even
with copies on other computers or backup systems, might be too high not to have paper copies
put in a vault somewhere just in case something should happen and everything be lost.
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Least We Forget
by Dave A. Law
Copyright (c) 1995
"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness . . . Those who
cannot remember the past are condemned to fulfil it."
- George Santayana's Life of Reason (1863-1952)
With celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the last "war to end all
wars" one has to wonder if we have learned anything from it. Wars still exist, and some people
might even claim that we have more wars, albeit smaller ones, than we ever did before. Diplomats
will tell us that wars are not necessary and peaceful terms can always be reached, whereas the
generals say that wars must be fought to protect the innocent among us. A sane person sides
with the diplomats, although fears in his/her heart that the generals might be right.
Though media only shows the war of the moment, many more go unnoticed. How long
did the conflicts in Afghanistan and Nicaragua go on without a flicker of press coverage? We
think the world is a peaceful and safe place; we live with such delusions until we are woken from
a slumber with threats much closer to home. Some people fear that incidents such as the
Oklahoma bombing may occur more often and feel that a more isolationist policy must be
adhered until the threats at home can be dealt with. Unfortunately, we tend to be just as blind to
those threats as we are to the many unknown wars around the world. It will be only through a
greater availability of information before we can truly start to understand what is happening
around us, but will too much information lead to the same outcome as too little?
Those that believe in wars, cite such examples as Rwanda as reasons why we should go
to war, claiming that the lost of lives would have been so much less. On the offset, this seems
quite a valid argument - no one ever wants to see such a senseless loss of life. Those arguing
against war quickly point to Bosnia in defense and question why that conflict still exists, raising
the issues that any intervention there has done little or no difference to change the situation.
Stating that their hands are tied is the only answer from the other side. They state that if they
were given full ability to do exactly what was needed to be done, such conflicts would be quickly
resolved. The need to balance the two extremes seems hard to maintain, especially from what history has shown us.
Unfortunately, both sides on whether we should go to war, whether it is to defend our
own interests or not, forget the fundamental reasons why these conflicts exist at all. It is rarely
for economic or political reasons anymore, (barring the Gulf War as it was one notable exception), but
rather because both sides have ideological differences. Even if a war is fought, and one side wins, the problem will still exist, perhaps even more urgent than the first time, but it will boil to the surface again until these differences can be addressed. If we are to have learned anything from the
past, it is that these differences must not be ignored, and any problems that exist between people
must be dealt with before someone else dies in a bombing , or worse yet, the next war to end all
wars starts.
"I don't know how World War III will be fought
but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
- Anonymous
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Last update: Oct. 24, 1997
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