I spent a while this evening backing up and upgrading a couple of the Locus blogs that are hosted by WordPress, which has been alerting me of the need to upgrade to their latest version for a few weeks now.
What struck me as I followed the recommended steps for doing this, was how detailed and complex the instructions were. There were half a dozen detailed options for backing up the WordPress database, all involving apps I had never heard of. Well, not entirely — I did recognize one, and managed to find in the dashboard of the administrator login provided by our hosting service that corresponded to one of their suggested options (i.e. ‘phpMyAdmin’).
Yes yes, I know that there are many many web admins and gurus who understand these details and options backwards and forwards, and compared to them I am a neophyte, or dilettante, about such matters… even though, in the context of Locus editors, I’m supposedly the web/internet authority.
But my thoughts about this is are in a broader context — taking a wider perspective.
50 or 60 years ago, where did all this energy to create complex systems go?
What were the folks who build elaborate internet protocols nowadays doing 50 or 60 years ago?
Building hot rods? Radio kits? What?
Were there equivalent complex systems those decades ago? Or has the expansion of technology enabled easily built complex system unlike anything possible in past eras?
What a really good question!
I suspect the energy went into a variety of forms of physical labour, exercise and rock ‘n’ roll…that’s why people were half the size they are now.
David