I Love NoTechlogy!

No, that's not a mistype... It's not Technology's praises that I sing tonight, it's No-techlogy's praises.

Notechlogy is the power behind the scenes that makes all the wonders of modern life possible... Allow me to give you an example:

Weather is crap all over the US today. The Northeast is buried under record snowfall, the Midwest is shut down due to ice and sleet, and I am stuck an extra night in a hotel room in Austin.

This could be a miserable night for me, but in fact I am comfortable and content... all because of the wonders of NoTechlogy.

Let me explain... When I plan a trip, I just log on to a travel agency's web site, tell it where I need to go and when I need to get there, and it finds me a selection of flights that meet my requirements. All I have to do is make a selection and show up at the airport.

Through the magic of Notechlogy, I don't have to do a darn thing to notify the airline, which in this case is American Airlines. American knows me well, assigns me the kind of seat that I like, and usually gets me where I need to go at approximately the time I need to get there (nobody's perfect).

Because I am a pretty frequent customer - American, or more precisely an employee of American usually gives me a call if they have to cancel a flight... Today they cancelled a boatload of flights (poor metaphor, but you know what I mean). Through the power of Notechlogy, once a decision is made (by a person) to cancel the flight, another person books me some new flights and makes every effort to let me know what's up.

I'm often unable to answer my phone - so I set up a Google Voice account. Google Voice is supreme Notechlogy. When someone calls my Google number, a series of phone numbers that I've specified gets called... If I don't answer any of those numbers, Google takes a message.

Now the awesomeness of Notechlogy really shows up. When I check my messages at Google Voice - I see a pretty darn accurate printed transcript of my messages. I don't even have to play back the actual voice recording most times.

Today, I just checked my messages, saw my cancellation notice and new flight times, and called the hotel to extend my stay. Piece of cake.

But wait... you say... that's TECHNOLOGY that's making all this possible. Why the heck are you giving credit to something called NOTECHLOGY?

My dear readers... Technology is something that only nerds love. Technology has flashing lights and whirring motors and arcane acronyms to obscure it.

Technology is what we always envision the future to be full of.

Notechlogy on the other hand is that wonderful stuff that works so well that you take it for granted. I never think of my iPhone in terms of Technology. It's just a wonderfully simple to use communication and entertainment system that I can carry around in my pocket. Likewise the cars that I drive. I don't think of them as a collection of incredible technologies that can propel me around town in safety and comfort on a few ounces of gasoline... I think of them as transporters that get me to where I need to go.

If you've ever seen a re-run of the original Star Trek series, then you've seen a "future" that is full of technology. Lots and lots of flashing lights drawing attention to amazing gadgets. Think of the "Tricorders" for example... Beeping, Humming, incomprehensible Readouts... not just Technology, this was honest-to-god TechNERDlogy.

If Captain Kirk had been seen with an iPhone the viewers would have rebelled. It simply does too much - and in too natural a fashion - any simpleton could use it, so why would Kirk have one?

Fortunately for us, the "future" that is dominated by TechNERDlogy isn't going to happen. Technology is quickly evolving to Notechlogy - It's there, it's powerful, it's really really helpful, and the best part of all it that we don't even have to consciously learn how to use it.

I Love NoTechlogy!