Brown Motion

As oxymorons go there is no dearth. A contagion sweeping our planet has led to the creation of many new names and phrases and 'Social Distancing' is top of the list. Humans (most) are social by design.  They thrive in community.  They seek something among others of their species to not just reproduce but to mingle, coexist and do amazing things.  That very idea is now (at least temporarily) being discouraged. Advances (caution here) in technology has had an unintended effect of creating new zombie colonies that want no human interaction rather hiding behind a computer to peripherally engage another of the species similarly equipped. This ailment is found in younger generations and some older (converting) adults as an example where they stick  noise cancelling cups on their ears most of their waking day.  Along with gadgets and software that has modified human behavior to the point of tapping on glass to communicate with family sitting at the s...

The year is 2020.  I am reading a book written by one of my favorite non fiction writers, Michael Lewis.  This one is from two decades ago called 'next - the future just happened'. In the book Michael goes on to show how change was happening fast around the year 1999 and the internet was becoming a pervasive force that very few really understood. But the thesis of the book is to say that those that did not jump into the flow and take advantage of the change that was imminent were likely to be left behind.  And a whole lot of folks did get left behind. Anticipating change and being amenable to it is a good thing.  Stasis can kill.  However, there is another side to that coin. Having information now accessible at the click of a mouse was the new norm but it did not foresee all of the (unintended) consequences. Back in the day the phrase in America was 'armchair quarterback'.  When television antennas beamed an NFL game to a cathode ray tube the pub...

While Silicon Valley implodes with their gadget mania its believers will consume all that we produce.  So it is with some friends and neighbors who as smart as they are do fall prey to the lure of the tech. One of them, a mom, has decided that she will wear a Fitbit on one wrist and an Apple Smartwatch on  the other.  When asked why - she said the Fitbit tracks her movements better.  'Fitbit' to the uninformed is a physical motion sensor based wrist band/strap that will convert your steps into a digital readout. Now most smart phones already have this feature built into them (at no added cost) but that is not relevant since she believes that this gadget is the best representation of her limbic activity. Also the Apple contraption literally and figuratively is competing for the same activity based messaging with its own branded interface. So for someone like me who is happy to simply get a chance to walk and is least interested in tech for the sak...