John Meakin gives us food for thought in his article Lessons from the Titanic. He describes the Titanic saying,” She was the largest and most luxurious ship afloat. On her maiden voyage, she epitomized the leading edge of the technology of the time, inspiring awe and wonder. With her 16 watertight compartments, she was thought to be unsinkable; in fact, when one of her deckhands was asked at the beginning of the voyage whether she really was unsinkable, he replied, "God Himself could not sink this ship."

The Titanic is perhaps the world's best-known ship because of the tragedy that befell her. The loss of this great liner has long since passed into legend. But perhaps the most tragic part of the saga is that it didn't have to happen.

The story of the Titanic is moving and harrowing, and presents an important spiritual lesson for our day.

Technologically advanced though she was the capacity of the Titanic's lifeboats were only 1,178, while the ship was built to carry 3,000 passengers and crew. This is part of the macabre fascination people have with this story: There was simply no way any more than half the ship's complement would survive should the unthinkable happen. So when the tragedy occurred, only the few survived. Many lifeboats were well short of their capacity-only 705 out of about 2,220 escaped to the safety of these craft.

In many ways the modern era is like the Titanic. Ours is a technologically advanced age, with a greater array of luxuries and conveniences than ever before. We are speeding forward into dark, uncharted waters at full throttle. Most people cannot believe this society could ever sink; the idea seems so remote that few allow the possibility into their thinking.”(Meakin)[1]

 

Unless security is given much more focus in the future the Internet and its Networks may become a Time bomb waiting to explode. The alarming speed at which technology is advancing at is like a semi-truck speeding toward a cliff with no brakes. The dot com crash is just a taste of things to come unless security is given more attention with the advancement of technology. Unless those who develop software and technology start to take their focus off of money alone and start looking at the big picture the Internet may be heading for a crash of unbelievable proportion. All the stop signs are in place but few see to see them as technology speeds though busy intersections. If this trend continues it is just a matter of time before calamity will befall our society from the technology it has grown to love. It has become imperative that the end user is acknowledged more and emphasis put on securing them as developers make and distribute software and technology to them.

 

In 2000 a movie was released called the Perfect storm. It told the story of the Andrea Gail a fishing boat and its crew that left Gloucester, Mass. and headed for the fishing grounds of the North Atlantic. In the movie the crew left for a fishing expedition and had gathered many fish a harvest which would save the company from facing bankruptcy. After they processed the fish they headed back to their homeport at the same time a hurricane was arriving. They were warned of this many times via radio communications. The cooling system on the vessel broke down and they decided to try to ride through the storm to save their cargo. Many tried desperately to warn them but the monetary value of their cargo seemed more important. They did not realize the gravity of their situation until the met the last big wave in the middle of the storm and then realized they would perish in it.

 Society needs to take a lesson from this there is a storm on the horizon and it will take place on the Internet  it is bound to happen all the signs and symptoms are there it is just a matter of time. Those who see it coming can now make provision for it by backing up their resources and securing themselves. Those who blindly venture into it face peril just as the sailors of the Andrea Gail did. Those who see this in advance may live through it those who ignore it and embrace magical thinking will surely suffer the consequences.

Those who slow down and take more measures to secure themselves may not reap the immediate profits that those who rush ahead do .In the long run they will stand a better chance of surviving the storm and come out ahead of the game.