Stop and think
Grandad August 8th, 2008
Last night, Herself sent an email to someone she thought was in Ireland.
She got a friendly and chatty reply and it transpired that this person was in America.
“So what?” you say. It got me thinking though.
This Interweb thing seems to have been around a long time. We all take it for granted though. Do we take it so much for granted that we have forgotten just what a marvel of technology it really is?
I am sitting here in my humble little abode up in the mountains. It is a rural spot. It is hardly the hub of technological advancement. Yet I have the ability to connect to millions of homes throughout the world. I have access to an almost infinite repository of information. I can access the greatest centres of learning, or I can browse shops. I can type a few words of garbage [like this] on a screen, and within a few minutes it can be read by hundreds of millions of people around the world. They can read it and comment on it and I can get virtually instant feedback. Not many years ago, that would not only have been impossible, but the whole concept would have belonged in the realms of the wildest science fiction.
Without leaving the comfort of my own home, I have recently researched holiday destinations. I have booked a holiday, including the ferry fares and all the overnight stops. I have bought airline tickets. I have bought all my grocery requirements. I have bought a couple of necessities on eBay that otherwise would have meant a day trip into Dublin and hours of traipsing around shops. Apart from that, I have had hours of fun bantering with people over stuff I [and they] have written. I have chatted to people in America. I have found instant answers to queries that otherwise would have required hours of phone calls.
Just sit back and think about the Interweb. Analyse it for the miracle of achievement that it is.
What do you get out of it?
Do you just take it for granted now?
Have you forgotten how amazing it is that you are connected to hundreds of millions of people around the world?
Is it not amazing that you have just received a special offer of penile enhancement from a little shit somewhere in Russia?
What would your life be like, if suddenly the Interweb ceased to exist?
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