I hadn’t thought about this in a while, but it’s true: the virtual world, in many cases is more real than the physical. I am involved in the migration away from paper medical records to digital, all of which will exist in some sort of cloud, albeit a secure one with restricted access, but a cloud nonetheless. You can’t get more real than that.
We have not evolved sociologically enough for this. We have a disdain for technology and those that are masters of it. (I’m good, but I’m no master.) The result is twofold: First, we alienate those we call geeks, lessoning the value of what principles they hold. Second, because of our lack of understanding, we devalue the whole moral, ethical, and legal implications of electronic communications.
In the alienation of the geeks, we draw the line. To put a label on something is to segregate and lessen the value of it. This time it is a population of people who dedicate their energies to the development, implementation, security and sometimes, penetration of your information in the cloud. All for your benefit, or your destruction.
When I was much younger, aa matter of public discussion was abortion. One of the as arguments was that technology (this time, medical technology) had advanced beyond laws, morals and ethics. Moreover, it was purported that things would reach a point where the aspects would reach a state of equilibrium on the future. The same comments were made about cloning and several other developing topics of the day.
I am suggesting we are in the same predicament now. Don’t know how to dial your new phone? Just give it to a kid, they will show you. So you hand over your personal communication device, which has your financial information and all of your friend’s contact information and God knows what else to a child that has no concern for the safety of that data. He has no moral, ethical or legal obligation to do so.
With our unwillingness to become masters of our own technology, we are giving our lives to children. In this case, we don’t even know the nationality of the child. We just give it away, willingly.
I hhavehad conversations with many children about hacking. They think it is cool. I let them know about EULAs and some of the possible legal, ethical and moral issues they are creating for themselves. They don’t care. After all, it’s fun, and nobody cares.
I charge you, if you are still with me, to arrive to become masters of the technology you use on a daily basis. Whether it be a wired, rotary-dial phone, or a net-connected tablet. Learn the technology. Learn about the value of your data, and of your worth. And finally, learn how to protect this data from the children of the world.
Thanks, Jay