If you checked out this month’s “Edge borders on the move” cover article, it may be apparent I’m struggling with the edge-computing concept. The edge used to be data processing on the plant-floor, out in the field, and removed from the centralized control rooms where it used to be stuck.
However, microprocessors everywhere let software process data anywhere, and simpler networking via MQTT and other formats shorten distances between data producers and users—giving the right hand a better shot at knowing what the left is doing.
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This flexibility to crunch numbers and data anywhere also renders the edge pretty much meaningless. It, along with cloud-computing and even digitalization, are being shown up as just more ridiculous and distracting buzzwords like Big Data, Industrial Internet of Things and Industry 4 point whatever.
Of course, artificial intelligence (AI) is the big “it” phrase lately. And, while I’m sure it can assist or perform many useful tasks, their combined numbers are a few pebbles next to the mountain of hype and over-promises, which will obviously never come anywhere close to being fulfilled no matter how capable AI actually turns out to be.
So what’s the point of spouting baloney? As always, talk is cheap and easy. We can look like we’re doing something—and reassure ourselves we are, if we’re unconscious enough—even though we’re not really contributing anything. Plus, there’s a chance we might find a rookie or a sucker to listen to us, though it’s unlikely to be for very long.
Now, I know some buzzwords are needed to serve as social lubricant, and allow people to approach and adapt to new and unfamiliar topics. It’s especially understandable at a time when technologies are changing so quickly, and many of us are grating on each other so much more as the Internet shrinks the world, and often punctures how terrific we used to think we are. Unfortunately, they’re almost instantly overused in place of solid action and progress, and immediately and inevitably go from being an aid to a crutch.
"Some clichés and common phrases are used to halt discussions and choke off debate, and can be repeated over and over to keep repressed populations docile and compliant."
Personally, my objection to buzzwords and clichés it that they’re unspecific, so they get in the way of relaying useful facts and telling good stories that will keep eyeballs on pages or screens. However, I’ve been learning they’re potentially even more destructive than I previously thought.
The late, great comedian George Carlin reported on this in his stand-up routines on euphemisms and their deadening effects. Maybe check YouTube for his excellent diatribe on how simple words like “shell shock” evolved into lengthy, soulless phrases like “post-traumatic stress disorder."
More recently, I ran across the thought-terminating cliché introduced in the 1960s by psychologist Robert Jay Lifton. It was reintroduced recently by author Amanda Montell as part of her “Sounds like a Cult” podcast.
Their observation is that some clichés and common phrases are used to halt discussions and choke off further debate. Some examples include: “You’re thinking too much,” “Here we go again,” “It’s all good,” and “It is what it is.” These and so many other bromides are mind-numbing enough on their own, but this problem is compounded when they’re repeated over and over to keep repressed populations docile and compliant.
As a long-time, professional pest, I think you know how I’d recommend responding. Keep questioning and pushing for useful solutions, if you’re still able. I’m just thankful that clichés are so boring that human brains can’t wait to move on the something more exciting —and hopefully constructive. I’m also glad that Futurama’s Hypnotoad character is popular beyond his recent gig as Texas Christian University’s rogue mascot. All glory to the Hypnotoad!
