THE SOFTWARE OF WHAT
Well, the Internet of Things (IOT) is upon us. It incrementally crawls our way, counting our computers to calculate the most cunning way to collect everything into one convenient command center. Whether the IOT is a modern hi-tech marvel for which we should all be grateful seems to be a matter of varied opinion. That opinion is somewhat based on your history, predilections, and experiences for good or for bad.
Sometimes the IOT goes well and sometimes . . . it’s just, “well!” It kind of reminds me of another era (late 1980s to early 1990s) when this wonderful thing called software was flooding the market of novice PC users. I call that time the Software Of What (SOW). The reason I say that is because so many PC crashes (and there were so many in those days!) were directly linked to that latest piece of software you installed. Technical support offices eventually would fess up, “yeah, we have a software conflict with [you fill in the blank], but we are working on a fix.” In the modern day we have advanced from the SOW to the IOT. I like the way that David Pogue (anchor columnist for Yahoo Tech and host of several NOVA miniseries) explains the joyful uncertainty surrounding the IOT (“At Your Command” Scientific American , July 2016, p. 25):
“ The first moments of ownership usually involve downloading an app, creating an account and connecting the thing to your Wi-Fi network. Sometimes that all goes well. Sometimes there goes your Saturday afternoon.
Then you’ve got the Tower of Things Babel to contend with: The apps don’t talk to one another. ”
Hey, let’s take it all in stride. We all know that our physical bodies encounter growing pains. What makes us think that we are exempt from them in our cyber-world bodies?
