The church shall move forward with the quickness of technology

Imagine you've been working on some genealogical research for the last six month or so, then while talking your cousin you mention your work and he informs you that he already did the exact same research a year ago. You just wasted six months, how do you feel? Any one who has done a reasonable amount of genealogical work has run into similar situations. The Lord has provided technologies that can overcome this particular problem as well as a myriad of others. I refer to the Lord because I believe that one of the major reasons for the technological advances we've seen is to facilitate the growth and maintenance of His church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). He has prepared leaders like President Hinckley who take advantage of modern technologies to continue and properly handle the exponential growth the church has seen. Membership has gown to nearly 13 million, temples now literally dot the earth, and there are over 50,000 missionaries in over 300 missions worldwide and all of which would be impossible to handle with a hard copies and filing cabinets system. If the growth of technology continues to keep up with the growth of the church it will be interesting to see what develops.

The pen is mightier than the sword

In the Middle Ages, the richest most powerful knights were those most skilled with the sword. Today, your skill with a pen (or keyboard) determines your rank. Not all knights were required to defend themselves daily, but they needed to practice their combative skills regularly to prepare for when a conflict did arise. You probably don't write an application letter to Harvard every day, but if you don't want the admissions committee to tear it to pieces (like Dr. Knutson will probably do to this paragraph) follow the knight's example and practice daily.

Hackers aren't limited to your computer

Recently the CIA reported that hackers shut down foreign power grids. This is a bit scarier to me than a hacker putting a virus on my computer. I can always backup my data, format, and start over. When a hacker can physically damage equipment that is vital to my daily life I start to take it seriously. Experts predict possible Y2K size catastrophes, only this time they seem to be founded. A country without power, water, or any other utility would not be a happy place to be. Precautionary steps should be readily available to deal with these types of attacks. It remains to be seen if government and other leaders take preemptive action or wait to be forced to make the changes.

Google "will be included in your brain"

I'm a bit of a "reformed googlist." Google co-founder Sergey Brin states, "I view Google as a way to augment your brain with the knowledge of the world...it will be included in your brain." With all the world's knowledge so readily available, and being added to daily by millions, why try so hard to enter information into your personal brain? My History professor has placed a 10 minute time limit on our weekly open-book, open-notes online quizzes because, in theory, if you haven't read the book you can't find the answers in 10 minutes. This is true if you look in the book for the answers. However, it doesn't take Google 10 minutes. So, should we teach general education courses or effective Google usage? Yes. This is why I'm a "reformed googlist." Google may know everything, but if you don't know what to ask, it doesn't know what to tell you. You still need the base to build on. If you can't remember the details, Google knows. Google is an amazingly powerful tool that needs to be utilized, but is only used to its full potential by the educated.