What if indexing could be done by a computer?

This is a question that I've asked myself on a number of occasions. While I do believe that one feels a real sense of accomplishment after finishing another batch of names and that many who participate feel the Spirit of Elijah as they participate in this work, that's not the reason why indexing is still done by humans. The advent of computing has immensely streamlined many of the operations of the Church. Computers have saved countless hours, tons of paper, and millions of dollars. I'm sure that members of the Church before computers felt blessed to perform service by carrying out these sometimes tedious tasks, but that didn't stop the Church from replacing this service with a computer program. That same person can now bless the lives of others with the technology that took his previous service opportunity from him. So why doesn't the same thing happen with indexing name for temple ordinances? To put it simply, computers don't read cursive (yet). I'm sure that when the day comes that they can, members around the world will bless the one who creates the technology and speeds up the work, not curse the one who denied members the opportunity to serve by indexing names.

Get with the program

The beauty of Capitalism is that businesses are rewarded for doing more for their customers. Let's say we have two companies, A and B. Company A has been around for 60 years. During that time, it developed a ground-breaking business model and a brand-new product that revolutionized the industry. It's now grown to become the largest company of its type and nearly dominates the market. Company B started up 3 years ago with the help of 3 employees, a good product, and social media for advertising. Both companies offer a product designed to solve the same problem. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. This is where capitalism shines. What if Company B suddenly takes a huge hold of the market? It doesn't make sense to Company A; B's prices are higher. A closer inspection reveals that B's product is slightly better, and they offer better service to customers. Is this fair? What if Company A loses its grip on the market and, as a result, is in danger of going out of business? After all, it's been around for 60 years. Shouldn't it stay around? The only way to revive Company A is to do more for their customers. If they don't, they lose. However, if they do, everybody wins. Not only is A revived and the customers pleased, but B will be forced to either lower their prices or create an even better product. This cycle will continue in a glorious self-correcting fashion. That's the beauty of Capitalism.

Photo Copyright Laws

An encounter I had with United States Photo copyright laws earlier this year.

Better together

The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This is clearly evident with the open-source software movement. It's astonishing how much great software comes from a loose network of freelance programmers who do it just because they like to. That's the case with many excellent software packages such as Gimp, Blender 3D, and the various flavors of Linux operating systems. The work that is created with these free tools is spectacular regardless of how much it cost to build them. Open-source software is challenging the current beliefs of big software companies.

Computing: Just for men?

This may sound like a brand of shampoo, in which case one might ask where they can find the feminine variety. They'd have to take two steps to the left where all the shampoo for women can be found. Then they might wonder why a brand of shampoo has such an odd name. But what if there is no alternative for women? Does there need to be another variety for women? Obviously there should be. There are far more varieties of women's shampoo than there are for men. No man (except those who either dearly love their wife or just don't care) would dream of buying and using women's shampoo. The same is true for women. They care about different criteria in their hair products. Shampoo is for everyone but the delicacies have been pushed onto women. Is this because women like shampoo more? Probably not. It's probably more due to the marketing of the product. Which brings us back to computing. Is computing and computer science just for men? Or has it merely been branded by popular culture and stereotypes as a guy thing? Computer science is not just for the guys. If anyone would like to see a stronger feminine presence in this field, it's going to take some considerable re-branding and clever marketing to do so, but it can be done.

War Games

Just because you can doesn't mean you should. We've all heard this phrase before. It rings true in every situation. The 1983 film WarGames embodies this principle. An intelligent slacker teenager figures out how to break into a military computer system using his telephone and dial-up modem. Why does he do this? Not because he doesn't like the military. Not because of some moral (or immoral) obligation. It's just because he can. And he gets in a load of trouble. While the unsecured computer networks of yesteryear have disappeared, the opportunities for fledgling young hackers are far from gone. As with most things digital, doing illegal things with a computer is much easier and far more removed than doing illegal things in person. Who's going to teach tech savvy youth not to do these things? While this question calls for a more general approach to morals, parents, teachers and church leaders would do well to instruct kids about ethics and how it relates to what they do on their computer.