Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Ethical Considerations of 'Custom Time'

"There is a moral hidden in a laugh, be wise and take the grain but leave the chaff." -- Chaucer

Last April Fool's day it was "Paper Email." Now its "Custom Time." You can send your email so it arrives on time even if you are up to four years late. Actually I must confess to having discovered Custom Time about four years ago when I screwed up the time/date settings in my computer and sent several emails in 1904!

I had to tell some people to look way way back in their inbox for some things I sent that morning!

Scripture calls our Creator the "High and Lofty One, Who inhabits Eternity." G-d can handle the responsibility of being outside of the constraints of time. For humans, time is a factor that helps us. It keeps us honest. I give you the quote from the "Investment Banker" on the Google spoof site:

"I used to be an honest person; but now I don't have to be. It's just so much easier this way. I've gained a lot of productivity by not having to think about doing the 'right' thing."

Wow, that's profound. Time, it would seem, is just one tool in our healthy quest for mutual accountability. What's really amazing and profound though is the "equation" that Google provides as logic for allowing users ten time-altered emails apiece! As you know, Googe uses a "secret" algorithm to assign "trust rakings" to various websites. Most of the time it works really well and makes Google the great tool that it is. Occasionallly mathematical models fail or can be hacked by what are known as "black hat" techniques so that bad content rises over good. That is why webmaster "terms of service" are necessary. I never knew an April Fools joke would contain so much wisdom!

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