Another one of those crazy lists landed in my email box.
Yes, we are suckers for lists.
This one provided eight things we are about to lose in the new world order that, apparently, is to be dominated by the cloud and those who hack it. Of course these clouds are in reference to cyberspace, not fluffy things that bring rain.
Naturally newspapers were on the list. The demise of newspapers has been predicted with certainty for over 20 years, yet they still exist. Admittedly, some in condensed forms, especially the dailies that nobody reads. Weekly newspapers are also doomed, the list-makers said. Again, nobody reads them. Yet, for some strange reason, somebody or something gets mentioned in the local rag, and it creates a stir or, in some instances, strings out a whole line of emotions such as laughter, smiles and thoughtful analysis and not because it was found online. Of course, these emotions can be mined online, but there are literally millions of sites and hundreds of millions of mistruths, misinformation and outright lies there, the viewer/reader doesn’t really know what to believe, other than to question or accept the validity of the statement or picture they just consumed and hope they have it right. Printed newspapers remove the doubt. When they are wrong, they admit it, in public, accept responsibility, so trust in the local printed rag, can continue. You don’t ever get that online.
Reliability still has some clout.
Printed books are also on the way out. Again, that was predicted long ago. It seems print on paper is still a force to be acknowledged and maybe even appreciated, not buried.
The list said the post office was dead. Of course if posties decide they’ll deliver the stuff you ordered online because you don’t want to put on pants and physically shop anymore, they’ll serve a purpose, along with other delivery services.
Cheques are on the way out, according to the list that came from cyberspace to my email address, so I cannot attribute it to anybody. You just have to take somebody’s word for it, that these items are going to be gone, because some phantom personality said so. Of course the anonymous experts indicated cash will be gone too. Everything will be done online. Of course how to fix the problem of escalating online fraud, security breaches and lost communications between complete strangers, will be solved any day now. Mr. Assange, Mr. Snowden and Russian hackers and their like, will take care of those problems. Security? Who needs it?
Land line telephones are another thing of the past. Except for those who still use them. Again, security and reliability enter the equation, but we’re not interested in that.
Music is also going to go down dinosaur road.
What? I hear you say.
Again, the phantom expert said illegal downloading is leading to a slow death.
Just a minute. A few paragraphs earlier, the expert said online stuff was going to be the death knell for papers, books, cheques and cash because expertise and downloads were so wonderful.
It is until it comes to music. New music is not getting heard because there is no reliable structure in the cloud, or anywhere now, to bring it to us efficiently. We download a lot illegally, or put on those aforementioned pants, and go to places where talented people still offer it as live entertainment.
Other doomed stuff? Well, television, family photos, hand writing and privacy completed the list. I laughed as I touched the delete key and poof, the phantom's list was gone!
