It’s Just Supposed To Work

I have supported technological devices for a few years. I have also played with them and been entertained by them all my life. I have also feared them. That probably sounds odd coming from someone who makes their living supporting technological devices. There are a lot of technological devices in the world we have made for ourselves, and frankly I don’t pretend to know much about them all. There are just too many. Too many gadgets. Too much software. Too many ideas and too many ways of thinking. It is impossible for me to know them all or know about them all or to learn very much about them all.

The one technology I support right now has a lot of focus from the world: computers. There is an incredible amount of focus on computers right now because of how much of time, money and effort are being put into computing technologies. This mostly has to do with the web and it’s many grasping fingers that have gotten into our collective psychological pies. Computers have creeped up on us over the past several years as being a primary technology. A technology that many people’s entire lives now depend upon.

When our lives depending upon something we expect that something to “function properly”. In other words, we expect that thing that we depend upon to simply “work”. Let me distill this down to the language that people use. The computer has to work right. Let that phrase in particular linger with you.

The computer has to work right.

That phrase alone should give you pause. It should make you think. The obvious question should come up. Does it? “What is ‘work right’?”

As modern beliefs go, this one is in the family of some ancient beliefs like “What is good?” That may certainly sound pretentious, but if you are someone who isn’t steeped in technology every day, ask yourself what you think your computer “working right” means.

“You know, it should work like it’s supposed to.” An answer as informative as the question. It can’t be ignored, the question that this brings up: “And how is the computer supposed to work?” You start to see a pattern. Certainly a computer is supposed to start up and “work” in some predefined way. That’s the entire point, isn’t it? That the computer will make your life easier? I don’t know. Is that the point? Is that how you define that the computer is “working right”? The computer is indeed supposed to make certain aspects of your life easier. Written communication is easier in that it is instantaneous. (Wait. Did we really want that?) Mathematical calculations of great scale and complexity are easier. (Indeed, this is probably one that we did want. To start with. Not everything is going to benefit from adding complexity.) Being informed and knowledgeable is faster and easier than it has ever been, right? (Ok, a few hoops to get through, sure, but ultimately I can read journal articles and newspapers at home from the couch. That’s progress over me driving to the library and rooting through the stacks, right?)

Is the problem clear yet? Yes or no? Can you define how your computer is “supposed to work”? Can you sufficiently elucidate what that means to you? Or is it like a car? You know it’s supposed to get you from point A to point B, and in between it should “just work”. You know how it’s supposed to work, but you can’t define it. Is it like you’re body? You know mostly when you don’t feel good and you can vaguely approximate the area that doesn’t feel good. Ah, but your car and your body require more than just using them to make sure they work regularly, right? A computer, though. A computer shouldn’t require that, should it? It’s just a box that does some stuff than isn’t that demanding. It’s not a body keeping itself alive. It’s not a car, requiring gasoline every so many miles and oil changes and new tires every so often. Computers certainly aren’t like children or pets, requiring regular attention to keep them alive and healthy. Computer are just… computers. Machines, sort of. Like a washing machine. Or a dryer. Or maybe a phone. None of those things need very much maintenance, do they? Shouldn’t a computer just work? When I sit down to the computer, it should work. It should grant my request to look at the world wide web. It should grant me request to view electronic messages. Shouldn’t it grant my request to play music now? Or how about do some complicated mathematics? (I mean, wasn’t it designed to do that to begin with?) And I’ve heard it can talk to other computers in my house. Why can’t it just do that?

Why can’t it just do that? Why can’t it just work? It’s supposed to work.