‘Zombie’ Tech Article Flattering, Somewhat Better Use of Term
We’ve talked here at the ZRC about the overuse of the term ‘Zombie’ to describe things that a given individual doesn’t like. ‘Zombie’ ideas, ‘Zombie’ banks and so forth. Up until now this overly broad application of the term had always been pejorative, but today I saw this article:
Zombie Tech: These Ceiling Lights Are Delivering the Web
Posted by Michael_Byrne on Tuesday, Dec 28, 2010
…It’s simple: instead of radio waves or cables, these ceiling lights are transmitting information via flickering binary code (basically) at a special photosensitive modem. The company’s called LVX System and it’s already installed the tech, which is on par with home DSL speed-wise, in six municipal buildings in Minnesota.The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is, likely, next.
…
Also, very notably, this is tech that’s back from the dead. Alexander Graham Bell had this idea in 1880 with his “photophone,” a transmission system that sent voice information via a modulated light beam. I’d say it never caught on, but the photophone is basically the precursor to fiber-optics. And what is this but regressive fiber-optics—minus the fiber and a whole lot slower (so far).
Zombie technology, eh?
Well… again, I’m not sure this is a good trend. While it promotes a more positive image, to be sure, if we open the floodgates to Zombie meaning ‘anything anyone wants’ it makes for a lot of headaches. On the other hand, as opposed to a bank that didn’t ‘die’, or an idea that didn’t die because ideas can’t, a technology can, in a sense, perish (i.e. stop being implemented) and then ‘rise’ from its proverbial grave (sometimes literal graves, if you count landfills).
It’s closer to being Zombielike, at least.
Eh. I won’t raise a stink about it as long as we have to put up with all the other six-degrees-of-separation ‘Zombie’ terminology abuses, at least.
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