We are all cyborgs.

The day after Steve Jobs died our studio PowerMac started to show signs of failure.  It wouldn’t shut down, it wouldn’t start up, kernel panics, etc.  My first instinct when things are going to shit in computer land is to back everything up.  It was also a good time to reevaluate my backup system.

We Are Cyborgs

Like it or not, we are all cybernetic creatures.  Without machines, most of us would be barely functional.  We use a combination of computer chips, hard drive and flash memory, user interfaces, global networks, and space satellites to help us communicate, navigate, think, remember, calculate, and create.

Artificial systems are slowly learning to protect themselves.  Apple’s Time Machine is a good example — it’s a backup system you don’t have to think about.  But we’re not entirely there yet — at this point in our technological evolution we still need to put some thought into how to protect our data (extra-brain memory).

A good backup system protects against: