incidents with technology

In just under 48 hours, the calendar says 2009 will be past, and 2010 will come. Hmm... I wonder what celestial mechanics would say. The points of reference to gauge these cycles are changing somewhat - its never quite exactly the same orbit...

On that thoughtful mode, I thought about the technological ecology that we have around us. 'Technological ecologý'? Huh? Well, as with any system composed of many units, it is usually somewhat more advantageous to have many diverse units, rather than to have, say a set of homogenous units. What am I really talking about? Well, I'm using my iPhone, which together with my Mac, means that I'm using Apple for my informational, communication needs. But the transition wasn't easy. I'm not an organised person - my contacts were messy, and disorganised. Also, I forgot to ask the dude at the counter to transfer the contacts from the old SIM card to the new one. Taken together, the transition then posed a serious challenge, the consequence of which I am still working out. As I thought about this, I weigh the pros and cons of going fully Apple-d. Sure, Apple products are nice to work with, but it also means that I have to keep the components sync-ed all the time, even more so now that they can communicate with each other, whereas with the old set-up, the mobile and the computer were quite separate. Well I guess now it requires a greater sense of diligence to maintain the contact list - which would require a lot of diligence on the part of the user.

This incident has also caused me to appreciate how intertwined the different devices are in our lives. By this I mean, not just in our communications, but in many other areas. Transportation, food, accommodation, energy.... Just as there are ecologies in nature, so there are ecologies in the human sphere, and just as there is the biosphere, so there is a technosphere, or rather, an eco-technosphere - that there isn't really a biosphere distinct from the technosphere, but both are now enmeshed intimately, and that this enmeshing is intensifying, yet there isn't a broad consensus about how to handle this relationship, and how it could translate into tangible changes in how people live their lives... Kevin Kelly got there first, again, I think. so... oh well.

So long 2009. Thanks for all the fish!