Technology's grip on modern life is pushing us down a dim path of digital mines.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — “Move fast and break things,” a high-tech slogan popularized by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg 20 years ago, was supposed to be a rallying cry for game-changing innovation. Now it sounds more like an elegy for a digitally-based society so fragile it can’t afford a flawed piece of software that was supposed to help protect computers — not break them.

Global technological collapse caused by A faulty update was installed earlier this month. On computers running Microsoft's dominant Windows operating system by CrowdStrike Cybersecurity Specialist It was so serious that some of the affected businesses Like Delta Air Lines They are still recovering from it days later.

It's a revealing moment – one that illustrates the looming digital dangers in a culture that takes the magic of technology for granted until it explodes into a horror show that exposes our ignorance and vulnerability.

“We’re so dependent on systems that we don’t even know exist until they break,” says Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley forecaster and historian. “We’ve become a bit like Blanche Du Bois.” In this scene From the novel “A Streetcar Named Desire”, where she says: “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.”

“Gum and Shoelaces” and the Perils of the Connected World

This dependency—and extreme vulnerability—begins with the interconnectedness of our computers, phones, and other devices. That often makes life easier and more convenient, but it also means that outages can have far-reaching ripple effects, whether caused by a mistake like CrowdStrike’s or by malicious intent on the part of a hacker.

“Maybe it’s time to look at how the Internet works and then ask why it works the way it does,” said Gregory Falco, an assistant professor of engineering at Cornell University. “Because there’s a lot of gum and shoelaces holding things together.”

The risks are compounded by tightening controls by a group of companies popularly known as “Big Tech”: Microsoft, whose software powers most of the world’s computers; Apple and Google, whose software powers nearly all of the world’s smartphones; Amazon, which oversees the data centers responsible for powering websites (another major service that Microsoft and Google also offer, in addition to the e-commerce market); and Meta Platforms, the social networking conglomerate that owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

It’s a highly concentrated empire with few lanes open to a network of smaller companies like CrowdStrike — a company with $3 billion in annual revenue, a tiny fraction of the roughly $250 billion in annual sales that Microsoft makes. All the major players still tend to prioritize profit over quality, said Isaac Nett Assar, co-director of the Cybersecurity and Global Policy Program at Indiana University.

“We’ve built a cult of innovation, a system that says, ‘Get technology into people’s hands as quickly as possible, and then fix it when you find out you have a problem,’” said Netty Asar. “We should be moving slower and demanding better technology instead of surrendering ourselves to these feudal lords.”

How did we get here?

But are Big Tech to blame for this state of affairs? Or is it 21st-century society that has unwittingly allowed us to get to this point—consumers eagerly buying their shiny new gadgets while happily posting their photos online, and seemingly uncompetitive lawmakers elected to impose safeguards?

“Everyone wants to blame others, but I say you better start by looking in the mirror,” Safo said.

But should we change course if our digital evolution seems to be headed in the wrong direction? Or is this even possible under conditions in which some credit card companies charge their customers fees if they prefer to have their monthly bills delivered to them via the US Postal Service, which has become known as “snail mail” because it moves so slowly?

Being stuck in a different era has worked well for Southwest Airlines during the CrowdStrike crisis because its system still runs on Windows software from the 1990s. It’s so old that Southwest doesn’t rely on CrowdStrike for security. However, that sword has another, less attractive edge: Acting like a Luddite is holding Southwest back. During the 2022 holiday travel season When thousands of flights were cancelled because their technology couldn't adjust crew schedules properly.

But returning to the early analog and digital era of 30 or 40 years ago, when more tasks were done manually and more records were handled with pen and paper, is increasingly unacceptable. Indeed, the technology now appears to be on its way to becoming more widespread, as artificial intelligence looks set to automate more tasks, including writing code for software updates that will be checked by one computer – and then supervised by another computer to make sure it doesn’t crash.

But that doesn’t mean individual families can’t still fall back on some old tricks as a backup when technology falters, says Matt Mittelstedt, a researcher at the Mercatus Center, a research organization at George Mason University. “There’s a gradual realization that some of the things we once laughed at, like putting a password on a Post-it note, aren’t necessarily the worst idea.”

At this point, experts believe that the government and the private sector need to spend more time mapping the digital ecosystem to better understand the vulnerabilities in the system. Otherwise, society as a whole could find itself wandering blindfolded into a field of digital landmines. “We have no intelligence about the environment we’re operating in right now other than that there’s this mass of ticking time bombs out there,” says Mittelstedt.