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Opinion:
"The Fifth Column"
-- an ongoing series......
AH! TECHNOLOGY!
As I write, power has just been restored
to Genesis Energy customers who were on a
pre-pay system. Apparently there was a "software problem". When I was a kid in
the UK, we
had gas on a pre-pay system. There couldn't be a software problem, because there
wasn't
any software. The hardware was a meter; you just put a shilling in, turned the
big knob and
you had gas. Actually, there was a "software solution", the software being a
length of bicycle
inner tube which could bypass the meter by connecting between the inlet and
outlet pipes. We
were never so poor we had to do it and, anyway, the gas company frowned on the
practice.
There wasn't ever a problem with our gas
meter: if we had money, we could have gas!
These days, whatever you want can be
available, you can pay for it, but technology won't let
you have it. Ah! Technology!
Remember the time when you wanted to make
a telephone call, so you wound the little
handle, the nice lady said, "Number please?", you told her, she plugged a wire
in somewhere
and lo! and behold! someone at the other end answered? These days, all the wires
can be
working, there can be a flash 'phone with all the bells and whistles at each end
but a "software
problem" won't let you talk to anyone. Ah! Technology!
Then there are cars. It can have enough
petrol, all the valves and pistons and things
can be in working order but a little electronic widget won't let you go
anywhere. Look under the
bonnet: somewhere under all those pipes and wires there must be an engine. Ages
ago, little
electronic widgets didn't exist, so they couldn't stop you going somewhere.
Ah! Technology!
It can affect the powers-that-be, too. My
son uses the new toll road, but, once, something electronic
wouldn't let him pay. I don't think he ever paid for that journey. Ah!
Technology!
My cousin and his wife had an account with
the Farmer's Trading Company and owed
hundreds. The computer went haywire and all the records were wiped - he never
had to pay.
That was about thirty years ago, so it's not a new thing. Ah! Technology!
I'll be emailing this particular rant, so
I'll have to be careful about the words I use.
When my son was living in Japan, I was having computer trouble with emails and,
in
frustration, I used a very rude word. The email, for once, was sent but promptly
bounced back.
I guessed what the problem was and replaced all but the first and last letters
of The Word with
asterisks - same result. Removing the offending word solved the it. Imagine if
the postie
brought your letter back and told you it couldn't be delivered because there
were naughty
words in it. Ah! Technology!
"Your call is important to us, please hold
. . ." Before technology came up with that particular abomination,
they had real people who answered your call. Jobs had to be created to do
it. Our blood pressure stayed down. Ah! Technology!
Perhaps we, Luddites, shouldn't smash the
looms, just the computers that control them.
--- John Northcott
NB:
These matters may be on the thoughts of others . Do
share your thoughts with us – with or without publish your name (but your
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