It has been another dramatic week for the human race.
My last Notes went out, and within hours, a glitch in an update to the commonly used CrowdStrike anti-malware software crippled vast tracts of the internet.
The NCC, News Weekly and the Thomas More Centre were unaffected, but many of the systems used in banking, travel and IT were. This goes to show, once again, just how much we rely on the machines to keep our world running.
We are interconnected in such a complex way now that a failure in one part of one system can cause tremendous damage throughout the rest of the system.
Our way of life depends on all these different elements working together.
Fragility
Last week we saw what happens when something goes wrong in just one part of just one computer system.
A few years ago, during the pandemic, we saw how fragile our supply chains were because they, like our computer systems, rely on lots of independent but interconnected systems working with each other in just the right way to make sure we have food, fuel, pharmaceuticals and various goods and services.
This approach has undoubtedly made the world wealthier and boosted everyone’s standard of living.
But the downside is that we are all more reliant than ever on things we have no control over and things we struggle to understand.
When the system works, it is great and everyone wins. But this approach is risky.
The rewards are high, but so are the risks. If we are complacent and believe that just because things have been okay, they will continue to be okay, then we can stumble into serious problems.
So far, all the reporting indicates that the CrowdStrike outage and related computer problems was a glitch caused by a bug in a software update. It was not a cyberattack, but the cyber equivalent of a natural disaster.
However, unlike a natural disaster, something similar could be orchestrated by a determined bad actor. CrowdStrike’s software is meant to stop bad actors from succeeding in this way. It just goes to show how complex things are.
Wisdom
Understanding complexity requires deep study of the issues as they are, not as we would like them to be.
It requires time, space, and expertise. It requires minds that are open but still anchored to fundamental principles and formed in an understanding of truth, goodness, and beauty.
This understanding is necessary for our political system to function, because our system relies on our citizens being well-formed and well-informed.
This is the primary purpose of The Movement throughout its long history.
We have been forming and informing Australians for decades through News Weekly, our groups, our student programs and conferences.
We are committed to providing the sort of in-depth reporting and analysis you will not find elsewhere.
The world is getting more complex, but with the right anchor points and the right maps, we can all navigate it. And together we can build a world for the common good.
