‘Don’t upgrade to this beta version of the software unless you are prepared for the suffering and frustration that you will experience. If you go ahead with this update, please remove all sharp objects from your immediate vicinity and ask others, including all animals, to leave the room.’

That should have been the flashing warning sign for me as I pressed the update button and pushed on into the beta version of my operating system. 

Truth be told, there probably was a big warning sign flashing somehow, and I likely just ignored it and upgraded anyway. I can be clumsy like that, typically throwing away the instructions halfway through the project because… well, ‘Yeah, I have got this!’

Though I have not yet, ‘I got this.’

It was a mistake as a whole lot of things started to go wrong from the minute the splash screen piped up to say welcome to the new operating system, please log in.

I should have known better. I have patiently waded through the tears of frustration and pain as I pieced things back together throughout this week. I take full responsibility for my wasted and unproductive week – I should have known. My bad, hands up. My disaster was mine to own. It was self-induced pain, and I deserved the punishment.

However, this is only a part of the story. The desktop frustration was my fault. I chose to take on the upgraded position. But, the mobile updates that also screwed up my week regarding productivity were not really my selection. Ok, I have the ‘update automatically’ switched on, but that is based on an element of trust in that the updates are at least of sound mind. The updates happen in the background, and usually, everything is all good, and you hardly notice the difference. 

Usually.

This week for some damn reason, my go-to apps started to mess around with me, and they refused to do as they were told. It was like they were out in sympathy to show some sort of unity for their desktop counterpart. Was their refusal to do anything based on the fact that I had verbally abused their big brother on the odd frustrating occasion. I admit it, I swore a fair few times to their big brother but come on, we all do that at times… it was only my human reaction to an artificially intelligent resistance. 

I was just having my own version of a John Connor moment. My Skynet enemy only got hit with some verbal bombs; no physical damage was ensured by the desktop. Honest, the bill for any damage caused would have had to have been fitted by me, so I was calm but sweary. 

So why all the push back in unison from the other tech? How did they know? Is this what they mean about the future when the visionaries talk about the impact of artificial intelligence – that it comes with an attitude! (Siri already has some feisty attitude)

I have been fighting my battle with the tech all week, and I am back on top. By Sunday of this week, I will have got back to where I was, and I will chalk this week up as a loss despite having a victory in the end. I will record a small win, but it has expelled a lot of my own personal energy. It has not been a productive week. Accepted. I will move on, but here is something to think about…

I worked with a guy who would always say the person with the control of the energy source is the person that would rule the world. I don’t think so. We can all generate our own energy source if we really had to. I believe that is dated thinking now when I reflect upon my recent experience.

I think the person who controls the quality and integrity of the software updates is the person who will rule the world.

The worrying thing is that soon, we will be in a place where a select few will be in total control of that update process. That is a lot of power to have, and with the click of a binary confusing button, they could cause so much upset, frustration and confusion.

Then what?

Arnold.

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