11 August 2000

Reading:  The Dancing Wu Li Masters by Gary Zukav

I'm still waiting on SW Bell to trace the break in my DSL connection.  DSL service can be a bit of a pain in the ass if something goes wrong.  Everyone's Internet, my provider, contracts out with IP Communications to provide the actual DSL service.  IP Communications basically "rents" the physical DSL line from SW Bell, who maintains the line which runs from their central facility to my apartment.  So anytime there is an interruption in service, it involves starting with EV1 (I have learned to skip this step and call tech support staff at IP directly) then moving to IP to determine if the problem is at their end or SW Bell's.  If the problem is SW Bell (mine is), then they have to put in a line repair request, which can take ten days.  It's not the end of the world -- we are using Callie's dialup right now -- but it does illustrates the complexity of new technology.

I wonder if that issue is going to improve, or if competent people who can troubleshoot and fix such problems might not be in major demand in the coming years.  We keep hearing talk of "internet appliances" and broadband connections delivering information to them and how wonderful this will make everything.  What happens, however, if the reliability and simplicity cannot be improved, and life literally comes to a standstill when the internet appliances "lose their connection?"

I suspect things actually will become more reliable.  But I wonder.  Everytime I buy something that is defective (which is happening quite often now), I wonder if we aren't seeing evidence of a less competent society.  Everytime I go to the grocery store and things scan wrong, I wonder.  Everytime I see anything done in a half-ass manner -- and this is quite often as well -- I wonder if technology is something that can work in a society that seems to be increasingly less competent at anything.  Maybe my sample is skewed.  Maybe I'm just overly harsh and critical because I usually can do anything I try to do exceptionally well.  I don't know.  But these are things I'm thinking about today.