I am not a number. I am a person
Posted on Tuesday 10th March 2009
A little reference to Number 6 and also Homer in The Computer Wore Menace Shoes, for those who have spent too much time watching television.
Apologies for the tumbleweed blowing across this site over the past couple of weeks. I’ve been insanely busy at work, and spent the rest of the time revising. As a result very little of any interest has been happening to report on.
The Adelaide Fringe Festival is on at the moment, so when Regan and I have some time off, we will have to get along and see a few shows. There is a huge plethora of choice, so we will have to pick carefully to catch those little gems that become lost in the huddle.
I also still need to get some more diving in before the weather starts to worsen and summer is over. If nothing else my nitrox course still needs completion, and must be done before all my gear needs servicing later this year.
Anyway, to reveal the point of this rambling non-sequiter my new passport came through today, and the number is printed and punched out in large-point on every page. It made me reflect how in life we are simply defined by numbers. Think for one moment about how many you have – passport, driving licence, payroll or employee, national insurance, mobile/landline, all those accounts both financial and by organisations, NHS or medicare ….
I could go on but the point is made. We are numbers not people. At some stage in the globalisation and information revolution we lost all sense of personal identity and became statistics. For shame.
