Three Law of Robotics

Isaac Asimov wrote the three laws of Robotics in the early '40s (although the time is vague and Campbell gets some credit too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics). Perhaps you heard about them in the movie I Robot (very loosely based on an Asimov story).

I wrote my first computer program in the late '60s.

I bought my first personal computer in '79.

We have all (at least the windows users) gotten accustomed to the endless parade of security breaches and hot fixes. Not exactly the utopia we dreamed of while watching the Jetsons or perhaps Star Wars. But Microsoft has made it somewhat tolerable by automating the process and allowing you to tailor how much interaction you want in the process.

Of course there is the bad side. How many times do you need to reboot? Do you wonder why they have to issue literally hundreds of fixes? Why do they issue the same fix for three or four different OS versions when they claim to have completely rewritten the code? Do you live in fear that when your computer tries to reboot for the 10th time, it won't restart?

It isn't just Microsoft. My daughter brought a Droid a couple weeks ago. It has automatic updates too. So far she has lost the auto-rotation of the screen. Sometimes. And sometimes the speaker stops working. Earphones still work. But it's not all bad. All you have to do is reboot the phone.

Motorola says they are working on the rotation problem. I have seen lots of complaints about the speaker issue, but no promise of a fix yet.

I got a Blu-Ray player a couple months ago. It's pretty neat. Streams Netflix movies and other cool stuff. But I was kind of weirded out when I powered up and got this screen tonight. I guess I'm glad that technology can help me so much. But really? My movie machine is asking me to download and install hot fixes?

I think it may be time to check myself in to a museum. Just sprinkle some dust on me, stand me in a corner and check back in 100 years.