Living in the Tech Avalanche Generation

I recall some time ago I heard Scott Hanselman suggest that “strong opinions loosely held” were of little interest or consequence to him…at least that’s the sentiment I remember being expressed. That thought resonated strongly with me at the time and just today it occurred to me that the inverse of the sentiment might also be true : “weak opinions firmly held”!

I am attracted naturally to people with strong opinions but the ones I admire the most are those who have “the tendency to doubt and the capacity to believe in equal measure”¹, particularly when it comes to their own beliefs. In my previous career as a studio recording engineer I was (and remain) a follower and admirer of the works of Brian Eno who considered one of his talents to be the ability to liberally contradict himself, which has some foundation in artistic license, an ability to turn on a small piece of mental real estate…agility!

Silos House Dangerous Materials

The one thing that really sticks in my craw though is silo style thinking, blinkered intellectualisation, emotional investment in ones opinions where they themselves are short of any depth of investigation, whether that enquiry is introspective, empirical or studied.

¹ From the West Wing Episode Constituency of One.

In a time where mankind had come to think of itself as highly evolved, there was a technology princess known as JezebelScript. She was a Queen in waiting and in her latter years she strode throughout the land upon her faithful horse who went by the name High.

JezebelScript roamed upon High Horse, preaching her gospel to any and all that would listen; “free yourself from the hub of central control and lay seed at the root of communication” she cried. The arbiters of the peoples forums were locked in debate, a dark cloud of quandary hovered, alas so many prophets, so many gospels, even at the seat of power there seemed to be great confusion in how to best identify the “one true way”¹.

The Princesses message was simple, her key tenet was “freedom in Ubiquity” and as her powers grew as the message took root. The Oligarchs of the day were seduced by her call and they too began to preach her message, concordantly  it appeared to be reaching its crescendo, her followers gained strength in numbers, they began flexing muscles of vindication in the hallways of the propaganda machines. And then a metamorphosis took shape…something unexpected in this rich time of spiritual and intellectual evolution, the followers of JezebelScript came to outnumber those who followed the false prophets, an ugly mob mentality which had been festering, manifested itself in an un-mandated charge to suppress the new minority. The airwaves became filled with bile, hatred and self serving pronouncements of worship to JezebelScript, they shouted her name as though it laid claim to legitimacy. Finally it seemed the oppressed were now becoming the oppressor.

Her story is ongoing, her epitaph yet to be written and who knows she just may end up capturing the hearts and minds of those who have until now ignored her dance of seduction.

¹ Billy Hollis “Living in peaceful co-existence”

On the back of running his ADSD course in Sydney this year Udi Dahan will be also running a one day NServiceBus introductory course. The one day course is a highly condensed event so its sure to pack a wallop and if you are interested in taking NServiceBus for a spin and see what all the fuss is about then I suggest you quickly book yourself a place.

Mark and I will also be sharing our experiences of how NServiceBus has served us as an enabler in designing and delivering successful solutions for our clients as an ISV and as consultants.