"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Arthur C. Clarke's 3rd law.
So by that reasoning -- Any practitioner of advanced technology is indistinguishable from a wizard.
The wi-fi on my laptop stopped working yesterday afternoon.
Since my desktop computer stopped working ages ago, this was a disaster. Netflex stopped working a couple weeks ago; so did Linda's desktop, and our cellphones and Ipad --though we could still get 3 G.
But not having internet service was the last straw.
So I called my wizard friend, Aaron Leis.
I only hesitated to call him for help, because I'm always afraid he'll think the only reason I'm friends is because he's a wizard. (Though a wizard is a good friend to have, indeed.)
He came over and waved his magic wand and fixed everything in a matter of minutes. A few mumbles and magic words and it was all up an running, and while he was at it, abracadabra, he fixed them even better!
I just laughed.
Even when he explained what he did, it still seemed like magic to me.
There is something that just tickles me, makes me feel good, about seeing someone who is so casually competent at something. It gives me hope for the future. And it isn't even his real job, just something he does on the side.
He started talking about passwords, and telling us in great enthusiasm about what he's read and researched, and I could tell it's that kind of passion and interest that has made him a wizard.
I'm telling you, every household needs a wizard -- otherwise you have a house full of broken or dysfunctional devices.
If I set out today to try to learn what he knows, I wouldn't get even a fraction of the way there.
Same with my friend Jared. They have the magic.
I swear, if I could do what these guys do, nothing would stop me. Heh.
Alas and alack.
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6 comments:
haha... love Clarke's quote. But there's some common misapplications of it.
Our technology, relative to us, is not advanced technology. It's modern technology. Our technology is only advanced relative to that what preceded it.
In other words, you will never have access to advanced technology so long as you remain tied to modern economics, remain tied to the human race, or remain tied to this timeline.
To get truly advanced technology, you would need to trade with advanced aliens, travel to the future (or the past in some people's eyes), or get privileged access to black (read: military) technologies not available to modern public. In the latter case, it's still technically modern, but relative to the dominate form of economical technology here, it is also advanced.
Nerd prose has ceased!
It still magic to me!
Alas and alack.
Well, yeah, when you're more at home in the 19th Century (like me) than the 21st, it IS advanced technology.
Jim Cornelius
www.frontierpartisans.com
I'm with Duncan. Computers are to me, in the words of Churchill, a mystery inside a riddle wrapped up in an enigma.
"Same with my friend Jared. They have the magic."
I think they have brains that work in different ways than yours or mine. Somewhat like world champion chess players, or Rainman.
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