Were anyone to jump from the 1950s to the world we live in today they would not believe how far, and how fast, technology has developed to become part of the way we live our lives.
That era saw the dawn of sci-fi films depicting future times. Fanciful worlds of artificial intelligence, technology-driven societies where every need and want is catered for at the touch of a button, now at the swipe of a mobile phone screen.
We can shop online and hold face to face conversations across the world in the way even Star Trek could only dream of. We can date, book a holiday or control our banking online. We can pinpoint exactly where anyone is in the world.
Everything we ever wanted to know, a lot more things we didn’t and even more things which are nothing more than fiction posing as fact are right at our fingertips.
It’s over 50 years since one science-fiction movie first provided warning of what could happen should things go wrong. Westworld was set in a futuristic amusement park where AI-controlled creations helped would-be adventurers act out their fantasies.
Ironically the first feature film to use digital image processing, it was set in the mid-21st century. The inevitable happens and the lifelike androids start to malfunction.
Written by Michael Crichton of Jurassic Park fame, it shows that any glitch in the system can have devastating consequences.
We have become a society which no longer knows how to operate when technology fails.
The glitch in the Microsoft/Crowdstrike system on Friday had a worldwide impact.
If a single issue can take down airlines, banks, retailers, media outlets, and more, what on earth makes the world believe we are all are ready for what comes next as technology inevitably becomes even more advanced?
Where is the back-up plan should the worst happen and technology fail completely?
It was, and we likely needed it, a sobering wake-up call that we must be careful what we wish for.
If we are to continue to be so heavily dependent on the networks — and there’s no getting away from the fact that we’re heading for an even more AI, digital-led future — then we must make sure we have the insurance necessary for when things do not go to plan somewhere along that journey.
It’s better being safe than sorry.
Perhaps the old pen and paper and simple telephone call haven’t quite had their day just yet.