The dark truth
I am the mother of a teenage son. If you are the
mother one of these you will understand why I sometimes find myself in front of
the computer with a wild look in my eye, a mallet in one hand and a claw hammer
in the other; why I sometimes wish new technology had never been born.
It starts at a tender age, for example 6 years. The
boy in question comes home from school and informs you that he wants an
electronic thing (ET). The type of ET he
wants depends on what is in fashion. He
really really wants the ET, he needs to join the club of
boys because everybody has one (except him).
It seems innocent enough at first, at last he is able
to sit still and concentrate and you have time to peel the spuds, then cook the spuds, and finally redecorate the kitchen. You decide to experiment to see just how far it goes before they snap
out of it; 12 hours per day and they
don’t.
With the arrival of the teenage years, if you let
things run their course, your home is pervaded by the stench of virtual death. Your son takes to hanging out with urban
killers, gangland car thieves and hideous intergalactic robot killing
machines. Your son and his friends pass their time killing to beat them, killing to survive, and will die at their hands on a regular
basis. Watch your sons in front of the computer: their jaws drop open, they jitter and grunt, stabbing out with blind fingers. Disembodied voices caw from
phone and Skype, “what the f***” and “I’m dead”. Your son’s friends invade your home with concealed palm
sized temptations, they invade on a virtual level too, things are downloaded and uploaded into your computer without
your knowledge, nothing is secret and everything is known – to your son - but not to you. They agree they are addicted, they agree with everything you say. But ultimately, the temptation is too strong. I am on a mission to stop the games, they are
on a mission to let them in, it becomes another, quite hopeless, game.
Left unchecked, the gaming invasion can cause your teenaged
son to forget everything: he will forget to talk, eat sleep and pick up his
dirty pants. The virtual world crushes
all in its path: imagination, conversation, bodily activity, tranquillity,
passion, and availability for washing up duties. It renders promises meaningless and truth a
thing of the past. Left unchecked I am
convinced that I will one day find a skeleton seated before the screen, its jaw
dropped open, its hand eternally clenching the mouse.
Is there a Way of Computing?
Looking for Hope
I’m looking for alternatives, I’m looking for
something that will engage my son, take him out of the zone of killer games and mindless quasi-communication (hw r u? gd) without opposing the forces, desires and creative abilities that are so obviously part of him. Without trying to separate him from the exponentially changing technical world in which we all find ourselves...or lose ourselves.
Alternative Technologies
I bring news of great joy, an antidote. I bring
you the story of how the human spirit can surf the tidal wave of new technology
and triumph, how faith in humanity allows us, (those of us who want to and
are capable of it) to find creative and moral freedom in front of the computer.
Once upon a time Linus Benedict Torvalds, a Finnish
American software engineer, had a good idea. He created LINUX and gave it away.
“What is Linux?” I ask my teenage son: Words pour from his mouth which appear to
have sense and syntax, but I can’t make anything of it, I just can’t grasp anything…graspable.
“Yes, but WHAT is Linux?” I ask.
“core, distribution, exploitation system, opensuse Kubuntu Lubuntu Wordy
one…” says my son, or something similar:
my brows knit, I hold up my hand…
“But what IS Linux?”
I ask, making little grasping gestures with my hands. My son becomes more than a little impatient
with me. I become impatient back, “I am
a total technical ignoramus I live and function in a real world, I’ve always
got along without virtuality until now, and so, for the sake of my generation, please what IS this thing and also WHAT IS IT
FOR so I know whether or not I need one?”
Phutting noises emit from his lips, his eyes roll
heavenward, and he shouts a bit, using his new Version Two upgraded loud scratchy
voice. But eventually, with the help of a
few diagrams which he sketches for me, I have managed to understand this
much:
It is my screen, the thing I see when I turn on
my computer. It is the interface between
human me and the shadowy world of the Computer.
It translates the ungraspable binary world of the computer into
something which I can see and understand and which offers me options which I
can take up such as opening my emails. Linux is the equivalent of Microsoft Windows
or Apple Mac IOSX.
Why would I want to change my screen view?
I can offer moral, technical and financial reasons, read on...
Linux and the Great Give Away
In the Microsoft story there are two pioneering players, one famous and iconic, and a co-founder with an unmemorable name (Paul
Allen b.1953) who had lots of ideas
which Bill Gates ( born 1955) was able to put into action for profit. In the Linux story, an inspirational
character (Richard Stallman b.1953) helped a young amateur programmer called
Linus Torvalds (b.1969) to start off on the right track. The right track is; give
it away.
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| Richard Stallman, Freeware Inspiration |
 |
| Linus Torvalds, Founder of Linux |
 |
| Bill Gates Cofounder Microsoft |
 |
| Paul Allen Cofounder Microsoft |
The Linux story is told here, elegantly and
succinctly, for people with not much time or concentration.
To know more about the idealist, visionary and activist, Richard Stallman, (helpful mnenomics Tall Man, All Man, Stall (the
baddies) Man) the bare bones of his story can be read here en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Stallman
What if we got rid of Them and Us, and we concentrated on
Us?
What if we did things based on Need rather than Greed?
The Alternative Way
Share your idea and give your software product to the world
Don't hog it and charge for it darling, here's why
When you share the world will be inspired,
Ideas will bounce and further ideas will be born
Humanity benefits (you are part of humanity after all)
Everyone is free to benefit from your product, and contribute to it!
You put in place laws so it is impossible to commercialise your product for personal gain
But you let people use it to improve or fuel their own businesses
You have a world wide network of creativity and solutions
You have a world wide network of friendly colleagues ready to help out
You are FREE from company restrictions and constrictions
From having unlimited good ideas crushed to protect a limited company
You don't need to be worried, mean and grasping, hiding from or attacking enemies...
Instead you are free to help others, humanity and yourself at the same time, as you choose
Linux rarely suffers viruses because everyone has
access to ‘fill in weaknesses’ in the system to avoid viruses and solve them, de-bug,
find solutions, upgrade and improve;
also there is no money-making exploiting power to ‘rebel against’ or ‘punish’
and so there are fewer attacks.
Here are two examples of commercial interest taking precedence over human interest: James Dyson when he cracked it with the bagless hoover, was turned down because companies were interested in selling hoover bags, and then there's a certain laboratory in the news lately, and the vital cancer data which it witheld...
Linux is continually given away and shared, in a
continual process of change and development, in line with life.
As Linus Torvalds says (pardon the grammar): "The cyberspace earnings I get form Linux come
in the format of having a Network of people that know me and trust me, and that
I can depend on in return." As Linus
says; "In my opinion Microsoft is a lot
better at making money than it is at making good operating systems." And: "Any program is only as good as it is useful.
ETHICAL, EFFECTIVE, FREE AND FUN!
Back to Teenage Boys and IT
There seem to me to be certain principles at stake as
we try to guide our children through a New Technology terrain is new to us and changing exponentially all the time. Here is what I hold onto:
Our teenagers are going to be seduced by computers, as
are we all, so it’s good to know how they work, mechanically, morally,
technically, to make sure we are in charge of them, and not they of us. To avoid being sucked into addictive consumerism. And there is endless educational fun to be had on this project
that absolutely does not involve mindless killing games and can involve human discussion, physically making things and reading Linux magazines for example.
Learning about and installing Linux is an option for freeing yourself from Microsoft, its charges, its invasion of our computers, its technical problems and its underlying moral values which undermine creativity and promote over consumption. Our teenage son as been an active participant and is now the family leader in Linux and has installed it in his father's computer and a family friend's computer.
Exploring and discussing the world of ‘free ware’ is a wonderful topic!
Building a Raspberry Pi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raspberry_Pi
(small simple cheap educational computer kit) is another idea.
Do you know of others, have you tried them?
Insisting that New Technology turns towards honesty, transparency,
sharing, genuine creativity and faith in humanity seems to me like a vital
mission for our children.
"We are not going to save the planet by putting our country out of business" says George Osborne, Chancellor, to applause from his Conservative gathering.
