Living on a Cloud

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Most technology is only useful once the user adopts new habits. It is no good trying to live the old way and expecting new technology to improve things.
When I first heard about email and the Internet I really did not get it at all. Why bother with computers, telephone wires and all that hassle when one could simply pick up the phone and talk to the person directly?
The point is that electronic communication has changed ways in which we communicate and thus changed the culture. Once this is grasped then it is easy to understand the revolutionary potential of the medium. The same is true of 'cloud' computing. This seems at first to be the slightly pointless innovation of moving all ones files on to remote servers for the entertainment of hackers. In fact it is a road to freedom.
I first began to realise this while experimenting with the newly updated calender features of Yahoo Mail. This first appeared an overcomplicated alternative to the pocket diary. Why spend hours typing data into an electronic diary when it is easier to access a filofax? The penny dropped when I realised that it was possible to automate the system so that deliveries or meetup socials appear automatically without my doing anything at all. In other words the diary acts as my own PA and suggests the most efficient course of action.
In order to make this work you will need to classify information into three categories. Social, Action, and Reference.
Social information is stuff that you want the world to know. I have placed this on the 43 things social network so that other people doing the same things in life can work with me. This network interfaces with Blogger very nicely.
Action these are practical tasks that need to be completed- often by set dates. These tasks become appointments on my diary and are eventually ticked off as being completed.
Reference. This is a third class of information that is kept on the Yahoo 'Notepad'. This consists of such things as insurance registration numbers and so forth. This means that I can obtain anything that is truly important in my life at a moments notice from anywhere in the world. This will always remain password protected, naturally.
It is possible to take the Cloud philosophy much further and gradually divest oneself of belongings. It is possible to hire almost all the necessities of life (accommodation, eating out in cheap restaurants and so on) with no future commitments. In this way it is possible to remain fully mobile and free. This even frees us from government control to a degree. How so? Socialism relies upon people being tied to a particular location. This need not be by barbed wire and machine guns. Western socialism relies relies upon inertia but the result is the same. The more an individual is committed to a particular location the more he may be taxed and regulated. A fully mobile individual will be one who can avoid socialism quite easily. What is it that ties an individual to a place? Obligations and possessions. Cloud living tells us how to avoid these things and thus remain free.

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