Important vs Fun

What is the most important thing in your life? Got it? Ok. Now, separately, what is your favorite thing to do for fun? Got that? Good. Now for the kicker. Does the former suffer from the latter? If not, then thats great! Congratulations on your well-roundedness! Otherwise... You get the idea. True joy is out of reach when critical components are ousted by temporary pleasures.

New forms of Group-think

We all define ourselves. One definition is with whom we spend our time. With the limitations of geography removed, the internet continues to revolutionize how we create, and interact in, social circles. These seemingly endless possibilities in social construction are exciting, but there is cause to be weary as we explore them. Who we spend our time with does help define us, but shouldn't be the only thing that does. Hamlet's Ophelia illustrates the dangers of drifting in a sea of opinions without a firm internal sense of identity. For society to re-form into positive new structures, we must each continue to fight to be our best selves.

It takes a village to... solve a problem

Software solves abstract problems. Take communication, for example. How do I send my ideas to a friend? This problem has been solved dozens of times through email, IM, texting, voice calls, video calls, web-pages, wikis, rss feeds, social networks etc. Each solution has slight nuances which cause different people to use it in different ways and situations. To find effective solutions to complex problems we must be willing to listen. We all navigate solution spaces differently. The best solution is bound to be found more quickly by a crowd, then an individual. So as the software industry matures, we must construct a tolerant environment in which un-orthodox solutions are allowed to mature and compete on their own right. After all, where would we be now if assembly purists had been allowed to relegate compilers to the fringe of research just because they were different?

It was so funny... what was it?

The internet's memory is short. Viral videos and trending topics bloom, wilt, and vanish like a flash. Meems are like inside-jokes that lose their edge once everyone is inside. The internet's memory is also infinite. Once posted, an item can be infinitely copied. A lasting interest grants content immortality. Thus the internet is the perfect place for water-cooler talk, scholarly exchange, dictionaries, and works of art. These two uses of the internet are a reflection of the users. We users can be flighty or enduring, trendy or timeless. Both have value. A balanced person learns from the past, enjoys the present, and works for a better future.

Heathen Computers

Human senses have been digitally duplicated in modern electronics. Cameras approximate sight; microphones approximate hearing, even touch is being refined. Scientific breakthroughs continue to expand not only the speed and capacity of computers, but also the very types of data that are available to them to analyze. We appear to be hurtling towards an inevitable technological singularity. But, there is one sense that computers cannot duplicate. Computers will never have a conscience. The complexity and variety of human legal and religious systems is evidence that we can't definitively quantify right from wrong. What we can't define we can't program, therefore computers have no morals. Honestly it doesn't really matter that computers are heathens. We just need to remember that fact when they start recommending modest proposals to us.

Look What I Did

Closed-source software development operations are like blockbuster movies where the credits all say "contributor" and list the names of everyone who worked on the project; the proprietary nature of the project requires that the contributions of the individuals be kept a secret.  Alternatively a vibrant open-source developer has the opportunity to display their work to a large community of peers and users.  The open-source developers can earn the title of "Director", "Producer" or "Gaffer".  This binding of performance to ego is one of the most important ingredients in the success of the open-source development mindset.  One of the greatest motivators of the human race is the desire to show off.

Security through Philanthropy

Society and technology mirror each other
Computers network because people network.  Local applications are our inner monologue and data packets on wires are words spoken to a listening ear.  The PC evolved because individuals like to be productive on their own projects, but the Internet was inevitable as we are naturally social creatures.

Society can not look to technology to solve its problems

Freely flowing information can accelerate the pace at which organizations work towards their  goals, but the presence of technology does not change those goals.  As technology mirrors society we can't assume technological breakthroughs to solve intrinsically social problems.  The ability to create an Alcoholics Anonymous website will only help the alcoholic if the person decides to put forth the effort.  

Cyber-security is needed because of cyber-criminals
If people were perfectly honest then encryption would be superfluous, doors wouldn't need locks, and all that effort could be put towards solving humanities other problems.  People are not perfect, and security is needed.  However, the amount of security is variable.  The more civilized the society, the less effort is required to self-regulate, and the more actual productive work can be done.

Cure the criminal to curb the chaos
Thus, while encryption schemes, firewalls, and other security measures are necessary for the foreseeable future, an equally important role in cyber-security is the work on education, removing hunger, fighting discrimination, and generally making man-kind more united.  If we are all our brothers keeper then there will be no one left to write the viruses.

The Wild Wild Web

Is retaliation the answer to cyber attacks?  Sometimes.  If someone steals my TV then I have a right to get that TV back and society has a right to impose a negative penalty on the thief.  When society has the power to impose that negative penalty then there is no call for vigilateism.  However, we live in a time where jurisdictions are plentiful and overlapping, and many digital crimes can be broken into many pieces, each of which is legal somewhere.  Where do you turn for protection when global network connections stitch together the weakest pieces of each legal system?  How do you gain recompense when no single authority can right, or even prevent, the wrong?  Sometimes you can't. When there is an assurance that an attacker will not relent, and there is no assurance of defense from anyone with authority, then we, as humans, are inherently endowed with the authority to defend ourselves from current, and all future attacks.

Illegal Multi-tasking

We surrender certain rights in exchange for the privilege to fly.  We prove a level of competence for a license to drive.  Up until now we've gotten walking for free, but some state law makers are looking to change that.  Specifically they want to instate fines for crossing the street with headphones on.  New York State Senator Carl Kruger summarizes the reasoning, "We’re taught from knee-high to look in both directions, wait, listen and then cross.  You can perform none of those functions if you are engaged in some kind of wired activity."  Not true.  Through the magical power of "pause" I performed those exact functions while listening to an audio book yesterday.  Yet here we are with the skills of the few determining the laws for the many.  Oh Big Brother. . . I liked you better back when you were Uncle Sam.

App Only News?

The dawn of the internet has shaken the foundation of news-reporting, especially for newspapers.  Now the mobile revolution leverages digital distribution in an instant-on always connected experience; the final advantages of paper periodicals are disappearing, forcing news-organizations to push their content into more and more distribution channels. News is still on paper and tv, but it's also on news-sites, blogs, social networks, e-book readers, and app-stores.  One publication is betting that app-stores beat the rest. Can a news source survive, or thrive, in only one content channel?  Even harder, can that news source justify a pay-wall when ad-supported news of the same events is so prolific?  No.  The trend of modern ingenuity is to destroy distribution barriers.  An attempt to artificially create one is a step in the wrong direction.

Distracted Potential

The Digital Revolution has re-drawn the boundaries of human growth. Anyone can become their most achieved self, but to do so they have to wade past the tide of distractions and achieve. The constant flood of social media, news, and entertainment has made it possible to be as busy as ever doing nothing. We can only imagine what music Mozart could have made with access to custom created instruments in a Digital Age. However, I can't help but wonder how many modern Mozarts there are that forget to try because they're too enthralled by the latest viral video.