By Glitch or By Switch?

I am probably going to step on a few toes with this post, or at the very least be labeled a conspiracy theorist. That’s OK with me if it makes people think. Was the recent outage from Amazon a glitch or a switch? And why did it affect so many?

I’m not new to computers or technology. Glitches happen. Programming mistakes can cause errors. Updates can have incorrect coding that causes unexplained conditions.

What I’m concerned with is that so many things went down with something that is being treated as a glitch. If you look at a list of companies impacted, it includes telecommunications, social media, financial sites, and even part of the UK government.

Should one company be able to control so much of our life that a flip of a switch could turn it all off at the whim of someone who has that power? How many other companies have this much control over so much of our life that we don’t know about?

There is a lot of talk about “digital ID” and we should all be afraid of it. Anyone who can see the bigger picture can see that putting all of our lives under the control of electronics is making a pact with evil. We are handing control of our lives to the people who control the power.

If just a simple server at one company like this can determine who uses their phone, who connects with their banking software, or who can play a game or chat with a friend, imagine what could happen when your whole life is controlled by those who manage your digital ID. Or if a “glitch” shuts it down for a day or a week. Or, “Oops! I didn’t mean to flip that switch”.

I’ve lived long enough to not believe in coincidences. There is a reason for everything that happens. I also believe this was no glitch. People who have that much control over so much have backup systems in place in the event of these things happening. They plan for the potential error or glitch, knowing that they can happen accidentally.

How did we react when everything went down? Was this really just a test to see how much we will allow in our lives? It should be a wake up call.

How much of your life is controlled by electronics? If you have smart devices that control a lot of your life you are even more at risk. One flip of a switch or an inadvertent glitch and you are left struggling until someone else bails you out. Electric stove / oven – better have a gas grill to back it up with or a generator waiting. Refrigerator? Again, better have a generator to keep it going until power is restored. Forget the heating blanket on your bed.  How will you entertain yourself without a phone or TV or tablet?  We’ve all but given up on board games and books.

But, what if power isn’t restored in good time? It’s happened after storms and disasters. How long can you live without electricity if something shuts you down, whether by glitch or by switch?

Think about how you would live if a glitch shut down your life for a week or a month. What would you do to survive?