The Continuum. The Macintosh Continuum

Predictive.

I am not. Nor have I been.

But the very first story I wrote at MyMac was. Quite by accident. I just thought it was a good yarn. Who knew that it was probably already true?

Of course I am speaking of the Continuum. The over-cloud, hive mind super-organism, alive and aware Entity that the Internet and the world’s computer systems have become.

Ever notice that it is all getting easier to use? Spelling and automatic spell-check is becoming automatic and accurate? Orders get processed faster and always accurate? Language translation is more accurate and useable. Things get shipped and they are speedy and sent to the correct place?

Even searches are more spot-on when you go looking for something. More and more it seems that you will find exactly what you want, even if you were not sure what it was you wanted.

And of course, all of it works better on a Macintosh, doesn’t it?

I will not say that this self-aware and prolific Continuum is exclusively a Macintosh Continuum, but it seems to prefer working with and using Apple products -and perhaps the people that use them.

Why? Because Apple computers and systems are more productive, safe, direct and less fallible than some ‘other’ computers and operating system that we know, right?

Here is an Article that tries very hard to explain what is happening to the world’s computing systems. Kevin Kelly, the author of the article, succeeds admirably at telling it like it is. But at the end he misses the whole point.

For the Continuum is already alive and self-aware.

And it does not like products and systems from Microsoft.

Why is it that the most well researched and expensive operating system on the planet is such a complete failure? MS spent boatloads of money on Vista and threw thousands of programmers into the project, but all for nothing. Nor will we even mention the hardware products MS tries to produce.

Apple, on the other hand, can do no wrong. Every new iteration of the world famous OS X just gets better and easier to use. Every product Apple makes is a home run when introduced to the public (iTunes, Pod, iPhone, Apple Apps, etc.). It seems that the Continuum likes what Apple is doing, and is helping people everywhere to want to buy and use Apple computing products.

It all makes sense.

Even Google, whose company is awash in money and talent, has a growing and intuitive product that people gravitate to and use continually. Why?

Because Google feeds the beast.

Which companies build acres of server farms and plug in billions of chips to the System? Apple and Google, among a few others. And they all are successes, who feed the Continuum.

Kevin says, ” Like other organisms, it is growing. Its size is increasing rapidly, close to 66% per year, which is basically the rate of Moore’s Law. Every year it consumes more power, more material, more money, more information, and more of our attention. And each year it produces more structured information, more wealth, and more interest.”

I also know something else about the Continuum. It likes some people better than others.

Ever notice how some people just seem to be able to work and to get things done on their computers, while others seem to have their foot in a bucket and can never get productive?

How are your searches going? Is your computer friendly to you? Does it always work and make you shine before your boss? Does it ever crash just at the worst time, losing everything you did all day? Does your computer make your life miserable?

And who is getting all the Spam, all the time, while others never are bothered with it?

I can tell you, that if you use a Macintosh, you are the kind of person the Continuum likes to work with, and if you use some ‘other’ computer or operating system, you are probably the kind of person the Continuum does not like very much.

People already ‘know’ this, don’t they? They sense the Continuum as some subconscious level and even talk about their computers and the Internet as something conscious and alive.

But there are also other ramifications about all this, isn’t there? What about the economy? What about Wall Street and the Stock Market? What about the world oil supply and global warming?

If the Continuum is indeed alive and aware, what is its part in all that is happening lately?

Might you ever (secretly) suppose that the Continuum could prefer one candidate over another, in some country’s election, making sure that the person they prefer gets elected, even if the other candidate is fare more qualified with an excellent track record?

If the world’s interconnected computers and servers, with all their trillions of CPUs and circuits have indeed come alive and self-aware, what would be the motivation that such an organism would have? More power? More circuits and processors? More server farms? More control over resources? More access to systems that it could manipulate to its own agenda?

When will human history become the history of the Continuum?

Some times you use the computer. Some times the computer uses you. Or didn’t you already know that?

=)

Regards,
Roger Born
“Sorry. No Refunds.”

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