Rise of the Machines

Back in the 80's, I was enroute to some Elsewhere or another and engaged in casual conversation with a fellow air traveler. He made the comment that he had complete confidence in modern airplanes because "they're flown by computers nowadays".
 
At the time, I was a computer fix-it guy who spent his days facing down broken computers and who witnessed them routinely taking down entire companies when they misbehaved. Hardware was pretty reliable, but software was always the wild card. It did not comfort me in the slightest that the machine I'd entrusted with my life was "flown by computers".
 
At the time, the Internet was in its infancy and was primarily a toy for us techno-geeks to share knowledge. SPAM was still a Monty Python sketch, and it was rare to get an email from somebody you didn't know. Computer security meant a lock on the computer room door. Computers and networks remained the domain of nerds, who might cause problems due to excessive curiosity and self-confidence but never ruined anyone's life.
 
Porn ruined everything. It brought big money, and big money brought shady characters. Identity theft, scams and cons soon followed. We nerds, in our hubris believed we could fight back with technology. SMTP became ESMTP. Encryption went to 128 bits. Network connections went virtual. Anti-virus software became as standard as email. Public pressure forced Microsoft to institute draconian security measures so restrictive that some software failed to even run.
 
But all along, it never even occurred to us that computerizing every aspect of the human experience, even when it wasn't needed, was the root problem. We just didn't know when to stop. Not because we wanted to see where technology could take us, but because there was money to be made. Not because a computer wouldn't lose your bag at the airport, but because it could get your bag to the carousel faster - even if that carousel was in the wrong city.
 
The computer in your car can make sure you shift gears at the right time, assure the right air/fuel ratio, and warn you when your air filter's clogged. But it also makes it possible for an evildoer to remotely kill your car as you barrel down the freeway. And, as it turns out, allows something as basic as the key you use to open the door and start the car to fail.
 
Check out this article, which tells how thieves stole 100 new cars using only a laptop. Note that these guys were just a couple of street thugs, not software engineers. They got the software and instructions via the internet. The same miracle connection that let me meet other coders in 1988 now instructs know-nothing kids on bomb-making, hacking (once a noble art), scams and thievery.
 
Sure, it still serves its original purpose, too. It lets us share knowledge here on this forum, and I wouldn't want to give that up. But do we really need to relinquish every decision, to trust every aspect of our lives to software? Do we really need microprocessors in our toasters, to have a network connection to our refrigerators? Do we want to trust voting machines that we already know can be manipulated? To leave it to software to decide when a nuclear power plant is about to blow?
 
There is currently a call for modernizing the nuclear launch mechanism. Personally, I'm glad it still relies on 1980's technology.
 

Turn your key sir!
TURN YOUR KEY!

All I know is, up until the late '80's I managed a sign manufacturing company doing a £1,000,000 annual turnover armed with some A4 notebooks, a tape measure and occasionally a polaroid camera.
 
We had a couple of Apple IIe's for running CNC routers and the like, but business was conducted by telephone and fax machine. If I went out, I wasn't contactable until I got back to the office. This was rarely a problem.
 
I used to drive all over the country, regularly around London, and to this day I have never used GPS or SatNav. If I'm going somewhere I haven't been before, I look at a map first, and road signs when I get there.
 
I do use a computer for my gardening business, spreadsheets for the accountant, and printing invoices. I could just as easily do those by hand if necessary.

I get the point being made here but there is no denying that my business is made 1000x easier with automation. My life would be so much harder without email, smartphones, calendars I can share with employees, automated invoices I can email, online payment, notes and spreadsheets I can keep in the cloud and sync across devices etc. God knows how much paper I'd be using otherwise, and as someone who has a little OCD and whose brain doesn't work if surrounded by mess and clutter, being able to replace reams of paper and notebooks and the like with one neat little device that sits on my impeccably tidy desktop is a huge psychological boost even without the practical benefits. 

I want to get some Wi-Fi ligtbulbs so I can call my lights from my phone:
 

 
 

Craig, I think you may be somewhat obsessed with sheep.

craigb

jamesg1213
Craig, I think you may be somewhat obsessed with sheep.

You say that like it's a bad thing! 

It's a ba-a-a-a-d thing

When they see you do they bleat out, "Da-a-a-a-a-a-d-ee!"?

Mental note to self:  Avoid the chewing end.

I've seen two people sitting next to each other at a bar...  texting each other.  I've had a roommate downstairs text me while I'm upstairs with my door open (I mean, really???!).  No wonder I like small, furry animals better than other human-like entities. 

Maschines in construction, specifically 3D printing houses
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SObzNdyRTBs
 
http://www.wasproject.it/...-continuiamo-a-salire/

ston
Porn ruined everything?  I disagree.  Us, the consumer, all of us, ruined everything.
 

I remember reading in an Australian IT journal how porn sites were pushing the online purchasing development, due to the volume of transactions and demand.  Back then companies such as Microsoft/Novell/Netscape were using porn companies as there test beds for next generation online marketing sales software and security simply because of the volume of sales and traffic.
 
I doubt this has changed much.
 
Its the consumers demand for porn that forced a lot of changes, that a cultural and social issue, not a technological one!
 
http://sexual-sanity.com/...-internet-pornography/
 
 
 
 

The Government used to love ADA.  I could tell you about some systems coded with ADA that were used by, er, the transportation device Bob used to be in!
 
(But I won't!)

ston
I think pr0n is going to be driving current VR tech forwards too... ;-)

 
Your comment reminded me of this cartoon.  Then I saw the date in it, I guess everyone back in the 80's thought we would be farther along now than we are.  Personally, I blame idiocracy for the lack of progress.

craigb
The Government used to love ADA.  I could tell you about some systems coded with ADA that were used by, er, the transportation device Bob used to be in!
 
(But I won't!)

I was actually most familiar with java's ancestor; p-code machines.  And old UNIVAC machine & assembly languages.  C was taking over the world while ADA was still sucking up taxpayer dollars, so that's the direction I went.  Once Stroustrup's genius was widely implemented, I never looked back.  Once my management lobotomy was done, I didn't look forward much either
 
Thanks for keeping our secrets safe craig!!