we’re not selling electronic blips —- we’re selling a PATTERN for electronic blips. the inability of the consumer to PERCEIVE what exactly they are purchasing when it comes to electronic media ….
well, that’s as fundamental and misguided as a caveman thinking actual little people live in that funny thing we call the TV. and here’s the scary part:
you have a favorite recipe that you share …. with 10 or more very different ingredients. you can substitute — change amounts and still have something to eat when you are done.
in electronic media, we are talking about a recipe with TWO ingredients. the 0, and the 1. binary code and on, off switch that makes computing possible. when you buy a computer program, a digital movie or tv show … a song for your mp3 player.
you are not “buying” a song … you don’t even have written legal agreement to LISTEN to that song for your entire lifetime. it’s only good for as long as you can hold onto that “recipe” …. the code for which is entered into your electronics’ device. or you get it for as long as you can remember your user name and password on iTunes.
we pretty much are setting up no-fail businesses, where their “product” disappears and dies if the company itself happens to fold. think of the furniture store down the block going out of business, and suddenly your living room couch goes POOF! and vanishes into thin air.
so there is a competition and motivation to keep this or that electronic media up and running and in business. you look at DVD’s and their actual function as a LISCENSE to watch a movie. basically, it is that movie company selling you a share in their company in exchange for access to that PATTERN of electronic data that adds up to a satisfying hypnotic factor, in cinematic entertainment.
it’s a recipe. a pattern. the proper way to register and sell such items, would be through the patent office. you are selling a PATTERN of 0’s and 1’s …… which the end-user can then enter into their device and receive whatever that recipe was designed to create.
it’s like we are SO backwards in perceptional-abilities; but i thought i would just share how i see the universe of electronics, programming and data storage or management. when you use a program like photoshop or even download images or text with an internet browser — you are making a pattern WITH a pattern.
years ago, i watched at a friend’s house as they played a video game on their computer. i think it was the first Rehm or something like that. and i knew we were screwed. in my head — i went holy shit, they have computer programs writing computer programs.
and that’s why you see what you have here ….. nobody needs or LEARNS to actually program computers anymore. they just USE previously written programs to write more and new. and the problem? if even ONE of those foundation-programs is off or flawed, the exponential build upon it will fall like a house of cards.
and i’m betting they are all flawed. you practically have to work magic to have half the things running the way they should as it is. you can’t sit there and use programs to write programs, with the assumption that the initial program is a work of perfection. but oh well ………… and i promised to say good-bye to the soap box.
i don’t know that computer courses are even teaching basic computing anymore … but rather SHOWING students how to use already-made computing patterns to create OTHER computing patterns.
eh ……..it’s the perceptions of ALL that is kind of funny how we build in our minds this entire universe of digital media and 99 ways to convert THOUGHT into substance.
and it’s STILL not substance —- it’s a pattern. a recipe for something that exists only in the form of how you make it dance. it’s the hokey pokey …… put your right foot in and put your right foot out.
and i have a feeling somewhere …. somehow …. someone is laughing really, really hard.
think about reducing man to a language of “yes” and “no” ….
beyond that, in computing and learning to write a programming loop, what was supposed to happen was programmers continuing over decades to learn and build on their LEARNING, not upon the previous guy’s work.
it’s like you show a kid how to use a throttle, and he goes “cool” and takes off with the bike without learning anything else. and not only that, then THAT kid starts showing all the other kids how to take off ….and nobody bothers to ask how to use the brake. or how to REPAIR the engine. or even how to shine the damn chrome.
and with computing and electronics, since all is based on ONE single programming break-through, like java or flash ………you have all this usage going on and BUILDING on those breakthroughs, with NO real new computing developed in what…..at least a decade or more now.
it’s like all the rats are figuring out different ways to use the cheese after the cow has died.