The Jazz Lifestyle

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What we can learn from the music

Are we following technology more than our humanity? In this age of unceasing change, we can easily fall into a trap of technological routines and over-programming of our lives. We become stressed and anxious about living in this dehumanizing jungle of technology. Can jazz music teach us anything about living; about survival in a technology dominated world where machines may one day out think humans?

A jazz approach to life could be a powerful weapon and solution in the technojungle because of its deep humanizing potential. The technobeasts can’t do jazz because jazz is analog, not readable by digital technology. It is a continuum of infinities that no digital technology can comprehend. The human spirit can.

Jazz is democratic, inclusive, creative, innovative, spontaneous, intuitive, inspirational, emotional, empathetic, diverse, spiritual. Among these, technology can’t flourish, however, humanity can.

Jazz meanings include, vigour, energy, effervescence of spirit, joy, pep, magnetism, verve, virility, encouragement and happiness. To jazz things up can mean to enliven, liven up, brighten up, make more interesting and exciting, add some colour to, ginger up, spice up, perk up and pep up. It can be enthusiastic or lively talk.

Originally, jazz music came from African and West Indies music containing tribal beats that became slave songs. These blended with some European styles and the musical styles of ragtime, black sacred music, marching-band music, rural blues, spirituals and gospel music mostly from the African-American baptist churches during the late 1800s and early 1900s.

Jazz music is polyrhythmic and polymetric. It has some structure, yet allows for improvised cross rhythms combined with a syncopation that anticipates the beat. To many enthusiasts, jazz must be able to swing.

To play jazz one needs four components shared by many other styles of music. These components are: rhythm, melody, harmony and chords. The order doesn’t really matter. One might choose the melody first which usually comes with chords. Harmony is derived from the chords, however, many styles of jazz use versions of chords that provide a more jazz-like feel. The flavour of the music can be changed by the rhythm. To live a jazz lifestyle one must seek the important components in life and find the right rhythm to follow.

One of the key elements of Jazz is improvisation allowing for free expression and interpretation of the music. When playing jazz, musicians must listen carefully to each other and respect the feel and interpretation each player brings to the performance. The music can change at any time and what one player does can be of great influence to others. It is a very democratic process of life that includes equally all those involved.

Because jazz music is free expression and full of inspiration and emotion, notes may be changed slightly. Certain notes can be added to give a blue texture. Such notes are called blue notes. Some notes may have their tone bent thus creating a different kind of blue note.

There are a variety of ways to make special jazz sounds and some are unique to particular instruments. A piano, for example, can’t really do a vibrato or shake. A saxophone or trumpet can do the vibrato and shake, but can’t play more than one note at a time, so a chord can only be played one note at a time. This is how a melody can be re-composed on the spot following the chord structure of the music. We can each find our own instrument of life to play along with other people and re-compose our world.

While no two performances of any music are exactly the same, jazz performances can differ greatly. Solos are usually never played the same way more than once and all jazz musicians have their own style and sound. There have been many attempts to write down jazz music. Jazz that is written can capture some of the feeling and provide larger groups a structure so they can play together. A jazz band may use an arrangement. However, the arrangement usually allows for individual free self-expression through improvisation, inspiration—even touching the emotions and intuition of the players and the listeners. Many people think jazz music should never, or can’t be written. For them it is all about taking the barest of structure, perhaps only melody and chords, thus allowing the music to come from their spirit.

Jazz is an analog form of communication. Being analog, which unlike digital, is infinite, moving from one note to another can include every pitch in between those notes. Being analog makes music and jazz best suited to the human body and human spirit.

Jazz music has managed to find it’s way into nearly every corner of the human experience. Along the way, it gathered for itself a myriad of stories and perceptions. Many, like tarnished silverware, are dark and depressing. Yet as the definition above shows, jazz is quite the opposite. It is time to de-tarnish jazz and learn what it really is and to make it our life. It can deepen our humanity and free us from the technojungle that surrounds us.

Flappers doing the Charleston dance.

While jazz music emerged in the late 1800s, the jazz lifestyle was born during the 1920s Jazz Age. It was a post war era that ushered in great technological innovation and cultural change to a world of industry and wealth. Until this era, most children would have a lifestyle similar to that of their parents. New innovations, such as the telephone, phonograph and records, movies, radio, popular magazines and the automobile allowed for a new culture to spread across the country. Young women adopted a rather crude lifestyle and called themselves Flappers. Toward the end of the 1920s though, women were becoming more poised, with correct speech and smarter attire, in other words more respectable.

Respectable flappers.

Jazz music followed the Mississippi on riverboats from New Orleans up north to Chicago and then East to New York. It was adopted by young people from the African-American slaves of the South. The jazz movement captured the youth who were eager to break away from the stiff Victorian lives that seemed to have trapped their parents. It was a time full of excitement and spontaneity.

Early New Orleans jazz bands used guitar and string bass instead of louder banjo and tuba used for marching and recording.

The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, a white band from New Orleans that made the first jazz recording. They were issued on the Victor label.

“Fine and Mellow” with Billie “Lady Day” Holiday, considered one of the greatest female jazz singers with Lester Young, Coleman Hawkins and Gerry Mulligan and others from a 1957 CBS TV show “The Sound of Jazz.”

Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, considered the greatest jazz musician of all time.

Jazz living got into trouble sometimes, leading its followers into drinking and riotous living during a time when the evils of drinking were being curtailed by prohibition. Jazzers were left to follow the music into private and secret night clubs, called speakeasies, run by gangsters.

Like a person of youth, the jazz lifestyle, inspired by the music, needed to do some growing up—to mature. Since jazz music has eventually gained world-wide respect as a unique art form, it is time to take a look at what the style of music can teach us about living in a world of anxiety and unrest where humanity can be buried by the demands of technology.

Jazz is a journey of intimate shared experiences, describing the world and telling stories from the perspective of, developing the authenticity and identity of, each participant. It strives to leave behind the world of stress and anxiety by transforming the moment with peace and harmony. Jazz is an adventure of impulsive spontaneity and self-expression with surprises at every turn. Jazzers compose, recompose and instantly invent and reinvent their life by changing their actions. As an inclusive approach to life, the jazz lifestyle can be lived anywhere by anyone.

Jazz music is about freedom and liberty from oppression allowing self-expression, usually lively, that can swing and lift the human spirit. Yet it adheres to certain structures and is true to its history and legacy. The music has gained respect and is considered the classical music of America. As a lifestyle, jazz living should be compatible with most belief systems and world views since it is a way of living and acting that has the goal of allowing people to be more human.

Jazz music insists that all participants listen and pay attention to each other and to the music, and the music brings life. It draws together in harmony the human body, mind and spirit to function as they were created. One will find that the influences on their life that dehumanize and bring stress and anxiety will become less important. A jazz life should help people to break away from the bondages of modern life and focus on the human experience and the things that God has given them.

Jazz music was born in the depths of human misery and despair. It was given to slave people with nothing and is here now to help us living in an enslaving world of technology. With a jazz lifestyle, we can protect ourselves from becoming absorbed by our machines; to keep technology from replacing humanity.

This exploration and discussion about a jazz influenced style of living needs to continue. I am not finished, this article is not complete and I welcome the input from readers.

Quotes

“I sincerely believe that jazz is the folk music of the machine age.” — Paul Whiteman, popular 1920s orchestra leader dubbed ‘The King of Jazz’ due to his orchestra having so many famous jazz musicians playing orchestrated jazz.

“There was every reason why this music sprang into being about 1915. The acceleration of the pace of living in this country, the accumulation of social forces under pressure (and long before the war, too), mechanical inventions, methods of rapid communication, all had increased tremendously in the past 100 years— notably in the past quarter century. In this country especially the rhythm of machinery, the overrapid expansion of a great country endowed with tremendous natural energies and wealth have brought about a pace and scale of living unparalleled in history. Is it any wonder that the popular music of this land should reflect these modes of living? Every other art reflects them.” — Paul Whiteman

Wynton Marsalis, considered to be one of the leading jazz performers and experts.

As long as there is democracy, there will be people wanting to play jazz because nothing else will ever so perfectly capture the democratic process in sound. Jazz means working things out musically with other people. You have to listen to other musicians and play with them even if you don’t agree with what they’re playing. It teaches you the very opposite of racism and anti-Semitism. It teaches you that the world is big enough to accommodate us all. — Wynton Marsalis

The never to be left out of jazz…

What is culture?

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Culture seems to be what a group of people do, along with other notable characteristics, that distinguishes them from another group of people. This might include language, art, various other activities that are not necessarily unique to them only. Culture is part of what they do as a collective group of activities, expressing what is unique about them.

Culture is constantly changing and evolving. Here the word evolution can be applied appropriately. Technology is one of the greatest causes of cultural change. Technology has a way of helping to define aspects of our culture.

What is acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another. However, as the world shrinks due to globalization, more cultures are becoming westernized. So, eating a particular way in one culture may no longer be unacceptable in another culture. I’m not sure if it is still true, but burping at a meal in some cultures was considered acceptable.

Culture is more than what people say or do. The roots of a particular culture are probably in beliefs and values. Spiritual and religious beliefs and values can drive a society to develop a culture that may be quite different from even a close neighboring society.

Individuals and entire groups of people may belong to more that one culture, or sub-culture. Take a group who like classical music and another group who like soccer. Within each group could be found some who may also like both classical music and soccer. These groups each will have some cultural aspects and those people who belong to both groups will have a shared culture. A large portion of these groups, world-wide, may also belong to a much larger group belonging to North Americans and share in the North American culture.

Culture can define who we are as a human being and what make us unique and individual, but also part of a group. It is the shared activities, beliefs and values, and faith. While we do attempt to think individually, we are actually thinking more commonly within our group and culture. In other words, the culture of our society, group or tribe tends to influence how we think; to think outside of that becomes very difficult.

As our culture changes, we change. We try to adapt. We take on different approaches to life. We try to organize how we want to live within the constructs and structure of our society and our culture.

If you are a traveler, perhaps you understand what it is like to go to a culture where everything is different. Language, beliefs and values, art, music, clothing may be different. And yet the people in these other societies and cultures are human beings. You may look to find that which you may share in common that you can identify with. There can be many drastically different societies and cultures in the world that we can visit. The people may even look different.

There are many facets to what culture is and what contributes to or influences the creation of culture. Location and climate can influence how people dress and how they make a living, for example. Environment, such as city or country, can influence culture. Power in forms such as education, politics and economics can create a sub-society of upper class citizens with their own culture.

Does technology create culture, or does culture create technology? Probably both, with each influencing the other. Perhaps technology may have the greater influence. Once we had the beginning of technology like MP3 music stored in digital format (a digital file format for storing audio), players became popular; they began to change culture and to drive the development of more advanced technology for delivering and managing music. I remember advertising that was depicting, through music, dance and imagery, this technology fitting into North American culture. As the technology became integrated into the culture, with more people buying products, more technology could be developed.

 

 

 

Let’s take a closer look and just one aspect of how changing music into a various formats changed culture. Originally, recorded music was a single performance on a disk with grooves that could reproduce the sound. Soon, a record could have a recording on both sides allowing for complimentary music to be coupled together. Early records were recorded and played back without the use of any electrical process.

Fast forward to the age of the LP (long playing) record. With the ability to couple multiple songs together in an album, a record could take on a theme, such as all romantic music. The next step was to produce a digital version of the album called a CD (compact disc). The organization of the music, and therefore the theme, remained the same. When music began to be distributed in MP3 format, the file could be sold individually or rearranged. This caused the disruption of the album theme.

Culture can tend to create a separation of those who are in control of money and power from those who do not have much money and therefore power.

In the end, when it comes to culture and being human, we have the desire to belong. We have the need to have a sense of belonging to groups and to the culture they share. We will seek to find the groups that suit us and their accompanying culture.

I should be using the term sub-culture more because we are born into a culture; that culture may be difficult to shed to become something totally new. Some aspect of our identity are not possible to change, such as skin colour; that establishes a certain sub-culture that is difficult to change.

There are certain cultural aspects of us that we have been born with. There are others that we adapt or adopt into to help define who we are as individuals—our identity. Human beings seem to have a great need for this individuality and personal identity.

What about culture online in the virtual world of the Internet? Is there an Internet culture? Do the characteristics of culture apply in the online world as they do in the physical world? Users join groups; some of the groups seem to have a group culture that is shared. People want to fit in. There are certainly cultural norms, that is, behaviour that is considered normal. For example, some groups want users to use their real name. In other groups, nicknames can be used. Throughout the online world, typing with the Caps Lock key on, creating text in all upper case, is considered shouting. Sending messages that are not wanted by the recipient is considered spamming. These are all examples of cultural normative behaviours.

We are building an online world that imitates and is culturally reflective, in many ways, to the real world and in other ways is different, perhaps even less human. The online world does have its own culture; in fact, there are many cultures and some are shared, just as in the physical world.

Some people are said to be cultured if they have been well educated and well brought up. They are seen as having a good, perhaps even distinguished and better, culture.

Archaic—where are we going?

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Today, I watched as somebody was attempting to access a website over the data connection on their smartphone. It was slow. Even though what he was trying to do would have been nearly unthinkable ten or twenty years ago, it was now looking archaic, particularly since someone else was getting ready to write down the website address on a piece of paper—now, that really is archaic.

Yesterday, I was sorting out some difficulties with my smartphone and computer being able to synchronize through my cloud account. This is a very useful possibility, however, my personal stuff is being stored on a server that is out there somewhere and that makes me wonder how safe it is from hackers. Probably something similar struck folks the first time they put their money in a bank.

If you have read some of my other writings or have been following my blog, you will know well that I tackle technology issues often. I think we all need to consider carefully about where the technopath is leading us. One very important question I feel we should be asking is, does it make us more human and truly improve our lives? Just about everybody I meet and talk to about technology is excited about what it can do. It is undoubtably amazing.

My purpose here is to look at what has happened in recent history, where we are, and to urge you to consider and to think. Then, I want to take a stab at extrapolating to determine where we might be going. Let me start with a few observations.

I’ll just quickly mention that my first experience with the telephone was with the one phone we had in our house and the line we shared with neighbours. It was known as a party line. I remember when the digital calculator came along. Mechanical calculators had been used for years. Many were huge and all were too big to carry around. Digital, hand-held calculators allowed people to carry them around and use them in all situations. People seemed to lose the ability to do simple addition in their heads. My parents and aunts could add rows of figures fast on paper, usually faster than I could punch the numbers into a calculator. I was among the last of high school students who were not allowed to use calculators in math classes.

I also remember life before the personal computer. The manual typewriter reigned and typesetting and graphics were produced by industry experts with special equipment. Eventually, the typewriter became electric and one day, it got a very small screen that could show a few words that had just been typed and, most importantly, allowed one to back up and make a change to what had just been typed. I’m sure you can see where that led. The personal computer debuted from Apple, invented by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, changed the world by a huge leap.

It didn’t take long before these individual computers started to be connected together. We’ll take a jump here to mention the next major change. Many groups of connected computers existed, however, the Internet prevailed as the largest. The Internet was born during the cold war and was designed to provide a way of communicating that could not be interrupted. In other words, the Internet can’t be disconnected or destroyed. This is a characteristic we should all keep in mind. Another original segment of the Internet was used by educational, scientific and research institutions to store and share information.

There are a few other pieces to the puzzle that I should like to mention. Cameras have become digital, no longer requiring film that had to be processed before a photograph could be seen. Photography has not only become instant, but cameras have been shrinking and gaining quality. This also applies to video cameras. Most people wear a wrist watch. While the phone has morphed into a multifunctional digital computer device, I find it amazing that it is only now the wrist watch is about to be replaced. Perhaps replaced is not the correct word. Absorbed might be better. The cell phone has been absorbing many devices we use.

Here is one more and probably the most important piece of the puzzle. Our information. We are living in what has been described as ‘the information age.’ All this, the devices that have been getting absorbed, is about storing and sharing our information. As this becomes faster and easier, we find we have more of it. It is mind boggling. We need more technology to help us remember, manage, organize and use all the information we have.

Thus, here we are, most people carrying around a small device that is a computer and communicator. It is cumbersome in that, we have a very small screen to look at, a small keyboard to enter information and it often fails. Sometimes, some of us revert back to using paper in conjunction with the digital device. It is difficult for us to read large amounts of information on screen so we print it. We wear a separate device to tell time. Our pockets and our purses are filled with everything from money in the form of cash to sophisticated credit cards with computer chips in them.

I have watched as computers that used to take up entire rooms became terminals connected to a central computer, to computers that sat on or under a desk, to computers that could be held in one’s lap, to a computer/telephone/camera/multifunctional digital device that fits in one’s hand. And that, as it turns out, is beginning to look awkward, cumbersome and slow, in other words archaic.

So, where are we going?

We all love our digital devices. I like to think that we feel we can turn them off whenever we want, although this seldom happens. While they seem handy in many ways, technology always seems to find new ways to get closer to us, to infiltrate our lives even more.

My prediction, actually it is already beginning to happen, is that we may soon be looking at the ability to have our digital devices implanted in our bodies binging all the capabilities we now enjoy with our current technologies and much more, much faster and without the awkwardness and cumbersomeness we experience today. Why would somebody want to do this?

Why would somebody want to carry a telephone around with them 242/7? Why would somebody want to be able to have complex math, complicated problems and simply be able to store and access vast amounts of information without much thought? Why not have images and video display instantly in your mind? Who would not want to get rid of their wallet full of valuable information and money that can be stolen or lost? You would not need a passport. Nobody else could use your device and you could not lose it.

The world, through the Internet, is becoming a giant brain. Sometimes I see an image of a human head that looks like the Earth and has web-like lines covering the brain. As we feed it more information about us, it grows and grows smarter about us. Why would we not want to tap into this huge vastness of human experience? Why would we even need our awkward, cumbersome physical bodies?

Why would anyone really want to do this? As with most technologies, there might be some resistance at first, however, it usually does enter our lives. Online banking is one. I remember thinking I would never trust my banking to be done online. Somehow, perhaps by charges or by convenience, I have adopted online banking. The RFID chip credit card was thrust upon us without choice. There are instances where one can’t make a purchase without a credit card. Will the day arrive when the only card accepted is a chip card? Can you see where I am going with this?

In considering these issues and situations, I have wondered if a revolt by a large group might change the path we are on? Might some people withdraw from allowing deeper infiltration of technology in their lives? Could there end up being two or more groups, such as those with implants and those without? Can technology completely replace the human brain, or is the human spirt what truly make us human and what can’t be absorbed or infiltrated by technology?

There are prophecies in the Bible about the sorts of predictions I have written about here and Bible prophecies have always come true.

Technology—cornered again and again and again…

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It was only a few short years ago I heard the news that banking could be done online. I knew I would never do it; that is, to do banking transactions using my computer at home. I think it was a combination of extra charges for paper and some other activities and the fact that, with all the technology in my life, life simply speeds up and was having trouble finding time to get to the bank. That will be the focus of another article post tentatively to be called Technology at the speed of light.

Well, the above is a great example of getting cornered. When the path of a technological change and the interest or need for that technology by a particular person meet is the point of a corner that convinces that person they need the technology and to keep using the technology from that point on, until that technology is no longer current. What I am saying is that at some point, we all get cornered by a particular technology and will adopt it into our life.

Another axiom I notice is that as a particular technology becomes ubiquitous, it intersects a point on a path of decline for an older system or technology and creates a corner whereby a person must change to the new technology. We can look at the postal system. As more companies begin to offer services online or through other technologies, the postal system is no longer used. I’m sure you can think of several examples. How often do you use the phone to get help with something?

Here is another one. Any new technology that attempts to replace an older technology or system will offer more features and greater convenience with less cost that will entice users. This does not necessary mean the new technology is a better solution.

And still another way we get cornered. As a technology usage appears and begins to improve, one will downgrade their expectations for quality to adopt it, if the new technology is cheaper, more convenient and provides more features. The point when one adopts the technology is another corner. I can remember when computers became capable of doing typesetting. We, who were working in the trade, could not imagine cheap computers improving at this ability to the point that expensive dedicated typesetting equipment would become obsolete. The same thing happened with digital photography. We could not envision a photo made up of pixels could ever be of a quality that could replace traditional photography.

There is something else about digital technology. It will often be too perfect. In the case of audio music, it no longer sounds real or human. Audiophiles, are going back to vinyl records, and tube amplifiers. Vinyl records have imperfections and tube amps hum. If you tune a piano or guitar perfectly, it won’t sound right. In the hands of a musician, who tunes by ear, the instrument sings. A computer can easily emulate a drummer, however, a human drummer never plays every beat perfectly. It varies ever so slightly. When printing press operators were given plates imaged digitally with computers, they had trouble controlling colour.

The point here is that we are used to what is often called colour—imperfections that we tune out. I did state that often a new technology isn’t as good as the technology it replaces, however, digital information is perfect, while analog information is imperfect. Humans are analog and imperfect, so we naturally prefer analog information. Sometimes, imperfections are built into a digital technology. So, we can say that there is a point where we become cornered into accepting the perfection of a digital technology, even though it may be uncomfortable.

And then there is this one. Any new technology that offers new features and conveniences will erode the aesthetic artistic skills involved in the person using it. For example, E-mail and texting has eroded the skills and abilities of people using this medium, to compose good and proper writing. This decreases the impact, clarity, value and accuracy of the message. Yet, everyone accepts it, why, you guessed it.

In a few rare instances, at technology may be impeded by corporations. An excellent example of this is the electric car, or for that matter, any replacement for an oil reliant vehicle. Many years ago, General Motors produced an electric car called the EV-1. It was sporty, performed close to a regular automobile and was affordable. In the end, all these cars were picked up and destroyed. The story is told in a documentary called ‘Who killed the electric car?” Here the cornering is interrupted and the reverse of the usual situation happens until other influences change the direction. In the case of the electric car, one might speculate that corporations and perhaps government, with a stake in the oil industry might slow the introduction of the electric car until pressure from environmental groups and other groups cause a change.

In some cases, the new will become the only way and the old is out. Try to find a pre-recorded cassette tape to purchase. When was the last time you used or even saw a camera that uses film. However, we still have books and magazines that were predicted to disappear.

It is at the point where one adopts a particular technology, either willingly with enthusiasm or out of necessity, a corner occurs whereby a person has little choice but to continue to use the technology. Technologies are always chasing us and attempting to corner us into changing the ways we live do things.

Non-existance

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Someday, we may not exist. Really, you ask. I’ve been wondering. Let’s start with going to a website. Come on, you don’t really go there. Perhaps, you have 500 friends on Facebook. Have you met them? If not, you don’t know them. Do you have files you use on your computer? Do they actually exist? Can you touch them? If we are truly honest, much of what we have, do, use and exchange does not really exist.

Have you heard of the cloud. A real cloud can’t be touched. Up close, it does not really exist. Could that be true for the information that we are being encouraged to keep in the cloud. Quite the metaphor to think about. Even photos, in digital form, may be considered to not exist. My kids have very little physical things compared to me at their age. They carry a couple of devices that provide access to everything. All they need is a few clothes and food, and that I contend, is simply because they still have a physical body.

As we migrate ourselves on to the Internet—and one could ask if the Internet actually exist—we might find the need for a physical body no longer exists. After all, the Internet, a web (another metaphor), has been collecting all kinds of information about us and, thus, learning about us, for going on decades. Experts are working hard to develop machines with artificial intelligence. Could machines become so smart that they exceed the abilities of humans? Would machines then find that we are unnecessary, or would they use us in some way, as we are using machines now?

Here are a couple big questions. Is technology taking away our need to physically exist? I commented about some of these ideas in my article post A Byte of the Apple. Stay tuned for a new series of writings called Artificial Turf. Remember, there is a day of judgement and reckoning coming one day. Where will you be? Where will you end up?

A byte of the Apple

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It might be difficult for some people to ask the enormous question, what are we getting into and where are we going with all this high technology? It is indeed a difficult question considering the wonderful things we can now do and the speed at which advancements continue to come to use daily. One might say it is mesmerizing. As it would be impossible to discuss even a half of the issues, let me look at a few that come to mind.

I have been using Apple Macintosh computers for well nearly 25 years. I have always liked the ease at which they can be used. It is, of course, the ‘user experience’ that has always been at the heart of everything Apple has undertaken. I must admit, however, that only recently have I begun to slightly question Apple. As with many other people, I admit to having a love hate relationship with most,if not all, technology.

When I look around, I see the good and the bad of technology and I don’t mean just the obvious spread of good and evil information. I have heard many people over the years state that technology, like everything man makes, can be used for good or evil. This would apply to computers and what is often called high technology.

It is easy to to be caught up in all the interesting things technology can do. We are told that our lives are so much better off due to technology. Let’s face it, technology is fun and it sure looks like our lives are getting better, however, as I have written before, it seems to me that we have crossed over to a new paradigm when we adopted digital technology. Something is truly and fundamentally different.

In the span of human history, computers have only been part of our lives for a very short time—sort of a blink of the eye of history. At first, they were hailed as wonderful number crunchers, however, a computer with only a fraction of the capabilities of even a small computer of today, took up more than one room and required several people to operate it. Here is an interesting aspect of computer technology. It grows in power and shrinks in size at a rate nobody could ever have imagined. Along the way, it captivates us with the wonderful things it does for us.

Perhaps our lives would be quite different if computers had remained in the hands of corporations that had the space and finances to obtain and operate a computer. But something happened in a garage during the 1970s. The personal computer was born. In a matter of a few years everyone could have a powerful computer. This was a fundamental change to mankind and it was ushered in by a company called Apple.

I want to take a moment to have a look at a few interesting aspects of Apple Computers and the personal computing industry. First, what is a byte? In simple terms, it is a collection of eight bits of data that makes it possible for a computer to know and render a single character, such as a letter of the alphabet or a single digit number. A bit is the smallest unit of digital binary data, a 0 or a 1. I guess, for some people, it represents knowledge. I’ll stick with information, as I believe knowledge is information that has, not only become part of our memory, it is information that we are able to use and apply in a meaningful way. Nevertheless, many people consider information as knowledge.

Humans are transformed when personal computers enter their lives. It is not just a device, it is a foreign world that I would state, is incompatible with the physical nature of a human being. I am talking about digital information. One could say it exists, but it does not exist. One can have information at their fingertips, but not have it physically in their hands, you have a file that does not actually exist in a physical form or space. One can go to a web page without going anywhere. One can communicate with another person without ever meeting them, or be their friend without knowing them.

Is all this real? Does it make us more or less human?

Much of the bulk of a computer is in the machinery required to allow a human to interface and interact with it and the information available. A keyboard and a screen are examples. Not only is this bulky, it slows the interaction down. Computers work in milliseconds, however, the operation of a keyboard takes, well, much much longer. Have you ever wondered why we have buttons and other graphics to make the digital world look like our physical world? All this contributes to a clumsy, awkward exchange between humans and computers, one that, if computers get smart enough, will frustrate the computer into perhaps bypassing the human. Might the computer decide to control the human? Could this already be happening in some way?

Have you heard the statement that technology is neither good nor bad, it is just how you use it? What do you think? Have you ever wondered where technology is taking us or are you simply infatuated with technology today and what you can do with it?

I find myself regularly taking a step, or more, back to attempt to observe where we are going. Perhaps this is one capability that the late Steve Jobs of Apple had. He is now considered a genius and visionary. As the story goes, Jobs chose the name Apple so that the company name would come before Amiga and Atari, companies who might compete with his company. It is a rags to riches story with plenty of ups and downs. Beginning in a garage, Apple is now the largest publicly traded company in the world.

In the book of Genesis in the Bible, we find the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden facing the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Was it not a bite, or byte taken of the apple. Take another look at the Apple logo. Curious, isn’t it?

Chip cards, digital signatures — more secure?

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A few years ago, I began to hear about the new secure chip technologies. They were coming soon. Just like with online banking and other online monetary exchanges, I could not for the life of me see how they could be secure. I vowed, with online banking, that I would never submit to the activities. I did the same with the idea of using chip cards.

It is turning out to be an interesting exercise to watch how these new technologies are adopted and become ubiquitous in our lives and society. It is like we are being controlled—that we can be convinced to do almost anything. Was it the extra charges for using personal, face-to-face banking or simply the convenience in our ever growing hectic lifestyle that has swayed us into acceptance? Online financial activities are so common now that hardly anybody questions the security aspects. Why don’t we hear more about the problems with electronic financial exchanges?

So, what about chip cards? I wanted to hold off as long as possible, but, credit cards are a different ball game than something like changing the way you do something. Credit cards expire and then you have no choice. But wait, some were too eager to get me using the new chip technology.

One day, I received a phone call from MasterCard stating that my card number, a number I had for about 35 years, was within a range of numbers that they said “might have been compromised.” They had simply gone ahead and terminated my card. I had to cut up the card and I would receive a new one within two weeks. What was I to do in the meantime, I asked? No card! And, you guessed it, the new card was a chip card. I used it for a few weeks and then it expired and I got a new one. Go figure!

So, I had a PIN number to look after now. The first time I used the card, I must have seemed like a dummy. “What, I don’t have to sign? What is safer about that?”, I asked. Soon, I learned that usage at stores can vary. I hand my card over and the cashier (?) hands me back a machine with my card sticking out of it. Careful, misreading the tiny screen and it’s instructions can result in failure and a waist of more time.

Some stores don’t even utilize the technology and opt for a digital signature pad. Now, I am a south paw (lefty) and it is really difficult for me to sign one of these pads, especially when the placement of the pad never accounted for the angle at which most left-handed people write. Absolutely anyone could sign my name better than I do. Slowly, I am starting to develop a new version of my signature, one for use on a digital signature pad. Of course, there are some stores still doing it the old fashioned way, with a slip of paper. I still worry that my digital signature, now scribbled and digitized many times into many systems, might get stolen one day. Does my digital signature get saved somewhere?

Today, my wallet is bursting with chip cards, credit cards, bank cards, and I have a new problem that I think about nearly every time I use one of the cards. What is the PIN number for this one? Unlike some people, I have opted to use a different PIN for each card. My logic tells me that if someone gets my wallet and my PIN, they will have it all, that is, if I have changed all the PIN numbers to be the same code. Thus, I have the numbers kept in a secret place that I have to check before I use the card. But, what if somebody finds my list? Then they will have it all anyway. Stealing a PIN does not seem that difficult, since the keypads are used out in the open with no plastic guards, or anything to stop somebody from seeing what buttons you press. Am I to cup my hand over the keypad like we used to do when we wanted to hide something we were writing in school, like a test?

Isn’t a hand written signature on paper more secure? More authentic? I am always wondering if there is another way. What about fingerprint? Then someone would need to steal both my card and my finger. What about iris recognition? They would have to get my eye too.

I think chip cards are better for the stores than a slip of paper. They certainly do not seem better for me.

There is much more to this business of converting to using chips. See — http://www.spychips.com/ and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrITx7_tTT0 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spychips

Security Issues

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I think I will pass on trying to win the iPhone. It is another sign-up gimmick to get information about me, if only an E-mail address. Even without trying, I seem to get subscribed to lists, almost as fast as I can unsubscribe. It is hard to know how I get on all these lists. Not only is it annoying, but eventually, more personal information gets out and soon one can face identity theft. iPhone apps that ask you to establish an account on some fly-by-night company server, are notorious. I delete those sorts of apps.

Someone I know sent me a notification about an iPhone contest through Facebook. When I clicked on the link in the E-mail message, I was asked to login to my FB account. When I tried, I received a notification of suspected unauthorized activity on my account. Someone was trying to login from somewhere in the U.S. So, I had to go through a verification and had to reset my password. I did this and then went back to the link in the E-mail. I got the same notice and had to do the reset again. Finally, I got everything sorted out and then had to spend a lot of time making my account more secure. If I still have problems, I am going to get rid of my Facebook account. I don’t use it much, find it annoying and it is simply not very elegant, in my opinion.

You may think that I am being a bit paranoid, but, recently, someone did send a message to most of my few Facebook friends with a link in it. It was a harmless link to a Google page. It could have been a link to anything, including a script that might be destructive.

There are few contests where something is given away for nothing. They want a contact and you can be sure they are going to do something with it. One does not have to look hard to find instances of people’s personal information being compromised. Most of the major instances, such as with cyber bank theft, seldom get publicized. Society would lose confidence in the financial system and that would never do. There is simply too much at stake, too much money involved.

Even when I try to keep a low profile, I still have to deal with a few compromises each year–MasterCard, Facebook… It is happening more often and I know, most of the time, I never hear about the compromise or know what is really happening.

As kids, we used to run about the neighborhood as we pleased, mostly. Today, parents are very careful about this. Kids do not run free. We need to be just as careful with our personal information and identity. Anyone who has lost valuable items in a break-in robbery knows the feeling of violation and loss. The cherished items are gone for good. Just consider how it would feel to have all your money and or your identity stolen. How about the time lost dealing with unwanted E-mails, securing your information and other annoyments of various sorts. Isn’t this some sort of personal attack?

I could go on about digital packet sniffing software that can monitor and sift all your digital transactions, from E-mails to websites, sending that information to a stranger. For $50 one can purchase a small scanning device that, when passed in close proximity, can scan the chip cards in your wallet. Where is the security in all this new technology? Whether we surrender it through a gimmick contest, or other means that interests us, or are scanned, or by any other method, there are people out there who want your personal information. For sure, they will do anything to get it.

There is an old saying, “trust everyone, but, always cut the cards.”