1 post tagged “personal control. computers”

This era has been dubbed "The Information Age", and nothing could be closer to "The Truth".

From all levels of society, information is gathered, sorted, packaged, and delivered in any of a multitude of methods. All of it is being transferred to digital format and passed around the world at the speed of thought. From compiler to recipient, data transfer happens so fast it is way beyond the capacity of this man to comprehend.

When I first entered this "Information Age" I was 36 years old, when a gentle old woman bought me a computer. It seems she had heard about me and my efforts to make this planet a better place and wanted to help. In particular, she wanted me to finish getting our my newspaper, 'The Bisbee Lighthouse and Good Things Gazette".

Our local paper (as is the case in every community) was rife with the bad news, the good toned articles conspicuous in their absence. She knew-as did I-there were good things happening, but where was the attention these events so richly deserved?

My paper lasted for exactly 3 issues before folding. My "Advertisers" chose not to pay, so I couldn't afford to print it.

But those three issues went all the way around the world! I got letters back from people as far away as South Africa and Japan telling me how much they enjoyed reading it. One even sent five dollars-what a blessing that was!

You see, I had lost everything I owned and was rebuilding my life from the bottom up. That five bucks fed me for a day when I couldn't find work, when the businesses and community I supported couldn't find a way to support me.

That doesn't make them bad people, mind you! Just poor timing on my part I guess. Or perfect timing, as I reflect on it.

Now, I'm 12 years older, and quite a bit more ensconced in this age of digital data.

Now, all my personal information is zipping around cyber space, going places I'll never see and to people I'd rather not know. An exchange I wish I could control, but can't.

Tell me this: with all our information running around out there to people we don't know, being used for purposes over which we have little or no influence, does that make you feel as impotent as it does me?

I just want my wrap-around porch, my little mountain top in Montana or Colorado on the Eastern slopes of the Rockies. My wife sitting by my side, sipping tea and remembering when...

Ron Hatton
May 26th 2008
www.ArmadilloDollar.com