A recent comment from one of my colleagues to an e-mail list that we both subscribe to inspired some thought about my current career. The statement went along the lines that "news is worthless".
[VIDEO]In some cases, that is true. News generally doesn`t feed people, clothe people, or ensure the survival of the human species. There are, of course, exceptions: the coverage of foot-and-mouth disease helps ensure our food supply, reports on war areas gives us a good indication on where to not take our next holiday if we know what`s good for us, news on viruses like AIDS helps mankind survive. Most of the news, however, is filler designed to amuse us in between the real news.
When I applied the same theory to IT, I realised that it, too, is fairly valueless. Apart from the occasional method to streamline delivery of essentials with the help of IT, much of it is valueless when one considers the amount of unfed, unhoused, disenfranchised people in the world. The majority of South Africans don`t even have bank accounts: how does electronic banking benefit them?
Apart from the occasional method to streamline delivery of essentials with the help of IT, much of it is valueless when one considers the amount of unfed, unhoused, disenfranchised people in the world.
Jason Norwood-Young
The Nasdaq`s collapse, mentioned in last week`s column, was partially due to the overvaluation of many essentially useless products. Once people realise that the information society as a whole is essentially worthless, a similar effect may occur: people will simply reject technology in favour of real issues.
The possibility of this occurring is mirrored in the manner in which many IT professionals live their lives. The slogan "live fast, die young" seems to have been accepted as an anthem, with many buying as much as they can, while they can, driving expensive cars and bikes fast and hard, and living as though there is no tomorrow. For many of them, tomorrow may never come in terms of success and wealth: any new day may bring the realisation that the IT market as a whole is overvalued by society. Means to buy the houses, cars, and earn an income could disappear for many at the drop of a hat.
The stock crash did affect many previously affluent IT professionals, who lived on bank credit secured through share options. Economies have been suffering as the nouveau riche turn to nouveau poor overnight. Y2K companies, on 1 January 2000, turned from goldmines to minedumps while their value disappeared overnight.
To think that IT could ever entirely disappear, like an Atlantis beneath the waves, discounts the value that some of IT adds to human life. It does help mankind survive in many respects. It facilitates an interaction between people adding value to mankind; it does help streamline many processes that otherwise would be too inefficient to contemplate, such as food delivery. It even helps people meet their perfect partner, ensuring the continuation of the species.
Another reason why IT will never cease to be is that it has created a need for itself, even if those needs are built on false premises. The needs have been so well established that the premises -including the premise that we need to communicate, that we need knowledge, that we need entertainment - are never questioned.
We don`t need any of those things. They are simply fillers to occupy us for the duration of the free time that we all seem to have on our hands. We may all be working 14 hours a day, but are seldom contributing to mankind`s greater good during this time. Since the industrial revolution, which alleviated us of the need to struggle for survival, we have had a lot of time to fill.
So, just as news never died, we can rely on IT to keep us amused during the dull moments, when we needn`t struggle for survival. As a result, IT itself need never struggle to survive, and therefore is under very little pressure to ever deliver real value to the masses.
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