Friday, 21 August 2009

Power to change our lives - software

In today's world software runs almost everything that is not manually activated - thus there are some thing which are purely mechanically activated or purely human interaction-activated. This is not counting of course any basic power source systems such as turbines in a power station or any form of power output - but we know that they are regulated by software.
Thus, as extravagantly demonstrated in the recent film Die Hard 4.0 manipulating software can manipulate [the world?] a lot of things. So we should ask ourselves, as people and as young people mainly - what stake do we have in the future if we have no stake in how the world runs? Now politics and banking aside, who is the richest man in the world? Who are the most influential people right now ?
Not to say that we shouldn't aspire to be a banker or a politician but software is power in the hands of anyone that chooses to create it. Plus, we all know the documented evils of bankers and politicians - though some people think that there is nothing they can do and since it doesn't immediately affect them, then they conclude that it's ok. Don't worry, this is not a blog about the evil of bankers and America and the Illuminati or any atrocities of corruption and devil-worshipping - Youtube can educate you on that, if you want to know.
This blog is about the power to be creative and change the world by making software more interactive, intuitive, intelligent and accessible. Right now you are most likely reading this on a PC, powered by windows , possibly in Internet Explorer. What if it was being read to you whenever you wanted - in your ear - and you could see it when you wanted to in your field of vision?
Most people might feel worried about technology being so intrusively placed but if the people that are afraid, ask themselves why they are afraid , the simple answer is that they feel that they would not be able to fully control it's effects.
In conclusion, what i am suggesting is changing the perception of software by having more companies which are more accountable and based on principles aiming to benefit mankind, rather than the bankers they bank with and themselves. This is not an ideological utopia i am proposing. Software unlike any other thing in the world, can be whatever the person creating it, wants it to be. This in effect brings power to the masses. We no longer need super computers or laboratories since distributed computing allows for supercomputing power to be available - if you so need it. Networked devices are powerful enough to form social opinion just based on their feature set, open-source software encourages creativity and co-operation (perhaps in itself a model for an ideological utopia).
My final snippet for your mind is this : in the Bible when man was able to communicate and unite ,(Genesis 11:1-8) God said (v.6) :"Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do". Software can unite and change the world through communication and co-operation, as well as giving more people power to affect their environment in the form of information or computation power. I am a Christian and i am not suggesting that man's endeavours should be aimed at surpassing God's power, and certainly, whatever God wants in the end will happen. However, as long as we are alive we must seize the opportunity to do good. It is in the nature of man to do evil and good so we always have a choice. Proverbs 3 v.27 says :"Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it."

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