25 years of radical change

The news is all atwitter because .com names came into existence 25 years ago today. But it wasn't until 5 years later in 1990 that Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web – the only 'internet' that most people know – and made those .com names useful.

I remember seeing my first graphical web page at that time – a friend of mine at college had put up a little page about his department and had scandalously included his photograph. I was horrified, and the first words out of my mouth were, “this will never catch on.” Boy was I wrong.

At that time 'my' internet was a world of safe, opaque text. I'd have never dreamed of putting my photograph up on a web page for potentially anyone in the world to see. That thought frightened me because sharing something so personal with people I did not know seemed fundamentally wrong. But these days not it's not unusual for people to share much more than that on social networking sites.

I lecture my daughter weekly about the dangers of sharing too much on the 'net. She thinks I'm an old fogey.

But the W3 has changed us forever in many ways, particularly in the way we view privacy. We have gone from a people who jealously guarded our privacy and defended confidentiality to a people that no longer really even seem to understand those concepts. I consider that from time to time, and I don't really like it. I guess I am the old fogey that my daughter thinks I am.

Censorship vs Free Will

Partial Freedom is an oxymoron - but that's just want some people would like the internet to be: "Partially Free". I am greatly disturbed by the censorship of the 'net that has been taking place in China, and is now in beginning in Germany. This censorship in Germany is being done under the guise of making the internet safe for children. In China the Government just admits that it wants to control the information being distributed to their citizens. While China's attitude is disturbing, at least their admonition is refreshing.

This subject took me back some years as I recalled the formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. I remember the first time I read the Declaration of the Independence of Cyberspace penned by the poet John Perry Barlow. Its inspiring words, shown in part below, brought tears to my eyes:

"Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of Mind. On behalf of the future, I ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us. You have no sovereignty where we gather. ..."

"We are creating a world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race, economic power, military force, or station of birth. ..."

"We are creating a world where anyone, anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity. ..."

"We will create a civilization of the Mind in Cyberspace. May it be more humane and fair than the world your governments have made before."

---John Perry Barlow

Noble thoughts expressed over a sometimes ignoble medium. But the truth is that Cyberspace is no more evil than the world in which we live, although the anonymity of the internet allows that which resides in the hearts of men to surface freely. But we can not be afraid! Where freedom reigns the truth can always be found. Censorship does not eradicate evil. Wrongdoing is only further obfuscated by censorship.

Yes, there are nasty, and evil places on the internet. There are also places of goodness, justice and truth. I'm not willing to allow any Government to decide for me which is which. In China, for instance, some Christian Web Sites have been banned.

Our Lord gave us Free Will. I'm not willing to let any Government take that away from me.

I will walk about in freedom,
for I have sought out your precepts.

I will speak of your statutes before kings
and will not be put to shame,

--Psalm 119:45-46

Makeup your own mind about Cyberspace! Here is some software that can help:

• XXX Church
• Parental Control Software

New meaning for the "Handshake"

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has been working on what they call 'Nano Skins' Which is not to be confused with the iPod decals. These nano skins are comprised of a tiny web of nano tubes and polymers that are thin enough to fit beneath your skin while retaining their ability to conduct electricity.

These nano skins would be linked to your WPAN (Wireless Personal Area Network). Yes, we'll become wireless!!!! Oh Lord let me live long enough to see this research come to fruition!!!!

The applications for this kind of technology are only limited by our imagination - but I'd very much like to have in addition to a notepad, little display and keyboard. I'd never lose my PDA again!!!

I remember when we used to call establishing a connection from one computer to another a hand shake. Perhaps there will soon come a day when a real world handshake does the same thing.

Which may cause AVG to begin making hand sanitizer...

You can read a bit more about this new tech in this H+ article.

One Step Closer to Gibson's Dream

I was in my early 20's when I became a self proclaimed Cyberpunk, and William Gibson, the father of Cyberpunk has always been someone I've very much admired.

I loved the idea of cybernetic implants that could not only make you 'better, stronger, faster' but that would also allow our brains to directly access information located in cyberspace.

I was delighted to find that we are one step closer to developing that very brain implant that I will gladly test one day!!!

Check out the very newest and incredibly useful wearable technology.

And no, I don't think that this kind of implant would make me any less human that sitting in front of my computer all day does. :-) I would still love and server the Lord. I'd just be able to serve him 'better, stronger, faster'.

Google Street View

There are entire organizations built around the concern that Google violates personal privacy. I've perhaps been lax in my concern because I figure I don't do anything questionable anyway, so who cares if someone is watching me.

But I've been hearing a lot through the grapevine about Google Street View, the interactive mapping service that gives you a three dimensional pictorial view from certain streets in certain cities around the world.

Apparently they drive a car down streets with several cameras which take photographs every second or so. In this way you can 'tour' interesting places with Google Streetview.

Many of the same people who worry about Google's invasion of personal privacy also question whether or not it is ethical to take pictures of people and places without prior permission. And suddenly I have found msyelf to be one of those people.

See that little silver Yaris in the picture above? That's my car. They caught it as they drove by my Church taking pictures for Google Streetview. I wanted to see if they had a picture of our Church in Streetview. I was surprised to find /my/ car. I don't think I'd go so far as to say that it's a violation of my privacy, but I'm not sure I like it.

Now obviously I can't be too upset about it or I'd not post the picture on my blog. Being 'caught' at Church would not usually be considered to be a bad thing. But this photograph has given me pause for thought.

On occasion I run down to my mail box before I've showered or thoroughly brushed my hair, most often in strange attire. What if the Google Vehicle had been driving past my home right at that time? What if it passed by while I was on the street yelling at my dogs in that same strange attire? What if I were walking past some questionable place or with some questionable person, even in the most innocent of circumstances. What would these images - that do not belong to me - say about me, or the way I live?

These tiny slices of 360 degree life are stored for posterity somewhere on Google's servers, and suddenly I find that it's creeping me out.

In case you're wondering "What is Google Street View?" The wikipedia gives a decent definition.

What do to if you are concerned about Google Streetview and your home.

Cell Phones and Cancer?

Dr. Ronald B. Herberman, director of the prestigious University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute has issued a warning against Cell Phone use.

I'm flabbergasted.

Creating a Life Plan

Pastor Jeff always has yearly goals that he is brave enough to put in his blog. But he mentioned way back near January that a fellow Pastor had put his LIFE goals on his blog. That blew my mind!

But the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Just because you write down a Goal does not mean it can't morph and change into something entirely different as your life goes along. There was only one problem. I'm 48 years old, I figured that my life is most assuredly at least half over. Why bother now.

Well I decided to give the life's goal thing another look when I found this article by a Corporate CEO Michael S Hyatt who decided to live his life on purpose.

Since I found Jesus (Or he found me) living my life on purpose has become very important.

I'm going to work on some Life Goals, because my life isn't half over, I've still got half to live!!!!

The MYTH of Multi-tasking

I am as guilty of multi-tasking as the next guy, but recently I've become convinced that contrary to my intentions Multi-tasking has been cutting DOWN on my productivity. I've found my thoughts scattered when I should be concentrating on one thing. Phone calls, and email can derail me when I'm in the middle of something big.

Then yesterday, thanks to Slashdot, I came across an article in the New Atlantis Journal that addresses the issue of Multi-tasking. The evidence in the article against multi-tasking is rather shocking.

The article claims that "In 2005, the BBC reported on a research study, funded by Hewlett-Packard and conducted by the Institute of Psychiatry at the University of London, that found, “Workers distracted by e-mail and phone calls suffer a fall in IQ more than twice that found in marijuana smokers.” The psychologist who led the study called this new “infomania” a serious threat to workplace productivity."

Whoa! Twice that of a marijuana smoker??? Is all this information creating 'Info Zombies'? I don't do drugs for a reason, but I've been multi-tasking with the best of intentions!!!

We legislate against narcotics like Marijuana, but extol the benefits of something that has been proven to be worse than a drug? Ouch!

And considering that I've just been spearheading a migration away from desktop applications to Google Apps utilizing their widget heavy start page, I became doubly concerned with this next bit:

"One of the Harvard Business Review’s “Breakthrough Ideas” for 2007 was Linda Stone’s notion of “continuous partial attention,” which might be understood as a subspecies of multitasking: using mobile computing power and the Internet, we are “constantly scanning for opportunities and staying on top of contacts, events, and activities in an effort to miss nothing.”"

Yes that's /exactly/ what my Google Start Page does. It's riddled with news sites, RSS feeds, and task lists that thanks to Web 2.0 are change in real time! With all this information bombarding me constantly it seems like the Information Highway that was supposed to help speed me up has suddenly become one huge gridlocked traffic jam.

Then I remembered a book that I read way back in the 70's, ancient history by today's standards. The book was called “Future Shock” and it was authored by a visionary by the name of Alvin Toffler. I quickly became a fan of this learned man. While I consider myself a technophile I also am wary of Technology for Technology's sake. I credit Toffler for that dichotomy.

In his book Future Shock, Toffler claims that in the future change will happen faster and faster until it begins to overwhelm. The accelerated rate of technological and social change will inevitably leave people feeling disconnected from that which they are trying to claim, and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation". Future Shock. Toffler asserted that nearly every social problem of the day could be credited to future shock. Toffler coined the term "information overload".

Now I honestly don't want to be an alarmist but there is plenty of evidence, both theoretical and proven, that seems to point to the fact that we need to slow down. And given that I had been previously theorizing the same thing, I'm more apt to listen and heed the advice of the New Atlantean and Toffler himself.

You can read the New Atlantis Journal Article here:

http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-myth-of-multitasking