Do we operate with obsolete software?

[waechter418]

for example: we still use (voluntarily or not) a software that was designed 3000 years ago by shepherds in the middle eastern deserts.

[Dalek Prime]

Windows BC?

[Philosophy Explorer]

Due to technology, all software becomes obsolete. For example, my apps constantly get upgraded and new apps keep coming out.

PhilX

[henry quirk]

wae,

You're talkin' about 'human' software, brain software, psychological software, cultural software, yes?

If so: it's all kludge-work, ungainly and awkward, but largely it works, and if it works (ain't broke), don't fix it.

[Lacewing]

for example: we still use (voluntarily or not) a software that was designed 3000 years ago by shepherds in the middle eastern deserts.

YES! And we're overloading the limitations of the current operating system to such a degree that the mainframe is smoking and self-imploding, just like the episode of Star Trek where Captain Kirk short-circuits and outwits the computer controlling a civilization, simply with his higher skills of reasoning. Such a thing is surely happening to us... and I welcome it... even though I'm often resistant to learning new software, when I've become so efficient with the old/current stuff. But I understand that we need a new operating system to survive and thrive and expand. In this case, resistance only seems to slow the inevitable flow of all things.

[Greta]

There have been some upgrades and some downgrades. We are great at doing our specialised jobs but we could not compete with our "primitive" ancestors for breadth of skill sets.

We now have much AI augmentation (and here we are online) but the basic software has some problematic legacy features. The worst of them perhaps is that great bringer of misery and problem behaviour - flight-of-flight. Essential for jungle life but a disrupter and saboteur in urban life.

Another issue: pain responses. Do we really need blinding, brain-twisting pain to alert us that there's a body integrity problem that needs attention? An annoying tingle with appropriate disablement would surely be plenty enough to alert us to a broken leg, or whatever.

Another issue: senses. They're limited. Amplification / zoom capacities would be nice, as would controlled longer range capacities.

There's plenty more, of course. Biological evolution has obviously been far outstripped by our exponential technological progress so we are increasingly operating in environments to which we were not adapted. This effect will necessarily amplify and drive us to integrate ever more with technology, then allowing people to mitigate problems caused by problem vestigial responses.

[Dalek Prime]

Due to technology, all software becomes obsolete. For example, my apps constantly get upgraded and new apps keep coming out.

PhilX

This isn't obsolescence, actually. This is based on the software as service model, an this is down to two reasons. One, no one is willing to pay for software, and two, you are going to pay as a service, or you can't use it. Programmers can't work gratis. We have bills to pay as well. Added bonus for software houses? They can charge for prototypes before the software is really ready for use. Users become testers.

[Scott Mayers]

for example: we still use (voluntarily or not) a software that was designed 3000 years ago by shepherds in the middle eastern deserts.

This sounds like a lead-in for a Bible revelation!!

[Dalek Prime]

Hey Scott. Long time no hear. Welcome back.

[Scott Mayers]

Hey Scott. Long time no hear. Welcome back.

Thank you. I'm not as willing to be as public online lately.

[Hobbes' Choice]

for example: we still use (voluntarily or not) a software that was designed 3000 years ago by shepherds in the middle eastern deserts.

Sadly we are plagued with even slower adapting hardware.
Gladly each baby comes with more RAM than any other animal on the planet, all of whom have mostly ROM memory and so rely on instinct. But at least human are able to change through their lives.

You can always throw out the 3000 year old software and re-install Atheist-2000.. There are some legacy issues though. As the hardware has evolved the MSTHeist software has exploited many of the modules, and through both the hard and software is faulty fits well, until you get up to date input, where there are many division by zero errors, syntax errors and re-dim array errors. Clearly you also need to change the operating system, already mentioned by Dalek: WIndows BC.

So installing the Atheist-2000 suit can cause some serious crashes to the system, whereon, the MSTheist can begin to reinstall itself and lead to the melt down of the unit.
So reinstall with AtheistOP, by clearing WIndows BC completely off your system, else it will try to re-install to factory settings.

[Dalek Prime]

Hey Scott. Long time no hear. Welcome back.

Thank you. I'm not as willing to be as public online lately.

I know a good lawyer. No issue insoluble.

[henry quirk]

Elsewhere, wae asked "how about (for example) Vatican troyans and moral viruses - don't you think our cultural & psychological would work better without them ?"

My response...

You're talkin' about religion, and associated notions, yes?

If human psychology were modular, could be disassembled like a Lego set, could be reassembled minus the crappy blocks, then, yeah, certain things might work better, but -- using your software analogy -- that's not how it works.

You got software...you discover lacks, or errors...you can write a patch (add to the kludge) or you start from scratch and build a new piece of software.

Human software is even worse...fully intergrated, irrevocably intertwined, with the hardware, human software has a nasty robustness, it resists editing, it writes and overwrites itself...religion (just pattern-making/meaning-imposition gone wild) seems to be a function of that software...not seein' how you can address that function without drastically, radically, altering the software as a whole.

Again, yeah, certain aspects of society, community, nation, etc. would improve immensely if you could cleanly excise certain impulses from the human software, but I don't think you can, and mebbe -- if you could -- you shouldn't.

Life is a kludge, a sequence and cluster of work arounds. Kludge work has taken life, especially human life, far...kludge work seems to work well enough, even if certain individuals and populations go mad over imaginary sky people or try to elevate ordinary folk to semi-deity status...so: as I say, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[Lacewing]

So reinstall with AtheistOP, by clearing WIndows BC completely off your system, else it will try to re-install to factory settings.

Another option is to practice turning off the system completely and walking away from it. The computer does not need to be ON all the time... even if everyone else's computers are ON all the time. There's too much risk of malware (BobBot) and viruses (RevelationRedux) when one stays connected to the system all the time. Then it doesn't matter what software or OS we're running... as our processing can be corrupted by all sorts of madness. So I think it's good to practice complete system sweeps on a regular basis.

[henry quirk]

"turning off the system completely"

With human software/hardware this is the defintion of suicide (if done by the system itself) and killing or death (if done by another system, to the first system).