Autonomic Computing

No Patience?

Technology has made so many things faster—microwaves, ATMs, jet aircraft, processed foods, satellites, email. Technology has made us the fast society—two-minute noodles, one-hour photo processing, 24-hour loan approvals. At this rate, can we be far from a home study course called “Teach Yourself Brain Surgery in 12 Days”? Since so many things take so little time, when something or someone slows us down, we lose our patience, quickly.

Most people today live in cities and towns, not on farms. Very few people are involved in raising animals or growing crops—activities that inherently require patience. It's easy to imagine a city worker impatient with a train being five minutes late. It's hard to imagine a farmer being impatient because ...