Sunday, July 8, 2012

Hoping Not to Crash and Burn ...


In H.G. Wells remarkable novel, War of the Worlds, the aliens are defeated, not by any weaponry invented by humans, but by disease-carry microbes to which they have no immunity. I'm presently reading about a real situation like that fictional one, that took the lives of huge numbers of indigenous people during the first century of Spanish rule in California.

But viruses come in all types, don't they? Now, in a new age, we have a new kind of virus that can steal, not your life, but the integrity of your computer.

The latest c------r vi--s is set to plaster us all on Monday, July 9, 2012. And though I understand if your computer has it, Google may have already directed you to a web site that can detect and debug this: the question is, how does one know when their computer has been so ordered that it is not the vi--s taking your computer to an infected site, instead of Google taking you to a healthy one?

Aaargh. One cannot liken this to the decimation of a civilization. Still, our computers have become essential tools in many of our lives. I'm drafting a manuscript on mine which seems pretty important to me right now.

My doctor uses a computer to store my records these days, as does my bank, as does my investment firm. As do my sister and I for our family business. 

And these vi----s aren't microbes existing in a natural form in the world--these new deadly things are like a sort of germ warfare invented by hackers.

In any case, Monday, July 9, 2012, seems like it might be a good day to stay off the Internet for twenty-four hours, just in case.

If you don't hear from me, its because I'm hiding in a foxhole, waiting for the fusillade to pass so I can safely return to so-called civilization. 

The soul of the new machine seems especially fragile to all sorts of wickedness. In that way, it is much too human for my liking.

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