The Cloud: The Digital Equivalent of the Library of Alexandria?

by Scott Teeters

The other day I had to go to the Apple store to get a new mouse. While I was there I was looking at the iPads  (that is correct – I do not have one yet –  but I am a MAC lover – read on). They are indeed slick and sleek. It is an odd feeling that with such a small, light device, you have access to all the digitized information on the planet… IN YOUR HANDS. Very tempting to make the purchase.

But as I was looking at the built in features, I noticed that everything you create is stored “on the Cloud.”

“The Cloud” will become the largest collection of data on the planet and you need to realize if you have built your life around all your important information stored in The Cloud, you have created yourr own data file of your  life that can/will be looked over, used, bought and sold as a commodity, or even used AGAINST YOU, if needed.

And consider this.

Let’s fast forward a generation or two when hard data (paper books, drawings, blueprints, instruction sheets, even hard drives etc) are relics and are no longer published or  kept up to date. Then one bright, sunny day, a Coronal Mass Ejection from the Sun zaps this electric,  ephemeral thing called the internet or "the cloud!!! Zap, Gone, POOF!!

It would be the digital equivalent of the burning of the Library of Alexandria!

Then, this day in the near future, when one of the United World Citizens taps his or her iPad 21, a message will come up saying, “Sorry… No data found.” No message will come up ever again. It's all "down" permanently!! Or at least, for a LONG time. And since it’s illegal to print out things on paper, thanks to the United World’s Clean Air & Carbon Emission Reduction Treaty of 2020 (that's "future memory, by the way, it's coming!), unless our World Citizen has memorized or learned how to do things (such as multiplication, long division, spelling, how to treat a wound, etc) everyone will be CLUELESS without "the Cloud."

History tells us that ALL civilizations fall. Perhaps this is how our digital civilization will fall…

“The Cloud…” What an interesting name for the planetary database. When I was a kid, back in the days of the old republic and long before the time when a child’s every waking moment is scheduled and managed by parents, I used to daydream a lot. And, I liked looking at clouds, too. You know, REAL clouds, not those spyder web-like, chemtrail trail things that more and more people think are clouds. Those golden, olden days of daydreaming – just letting the imagination freewheel. It was great, so long as you weren’t doing it in class. Then you’d hear, “Stop daydreaming! And come down out of the clouds!”

And now, they want us “up in The Cloud” all the time. Hmmm… Interesting. I don’t own a smart device, don’t need one, and don’t have the itch for one. Don't get me wrong though – I love my Mac and the internet, just not attached to me everywhere I go. And my hard drive back up serves me well and keeps me "grounded."

I still enjoy daydreaming. And for as long as I can, I’d like to stay on the ground. 'Nuff geezing…

PS – Here’s the related news story that inspired this short essay – Click Here.