Updating Our Config Files — A Dream About The Future
Last night, I dreamed I had to run around and update everyone’s config files. Their settings were out of date. I knew they would run better with new settings, and so I updated those files, one after another. When I woke up, I realized that the dream wasn’t talking about literal config files — it was talking about something deeper, the underlying principles and rules by which most of us operate. Something in our basic configuration as a society isn’t working anymore.
Before I lose you, a config file is really just an old school word for settings. It’s the file where certain software stores the basic settings it needs to operate. But there’s a subtle difference. I work with web sites and I update settings all the time — but I don’t often update the config files which tend to stay the same except under unusual circumstances. These are very basic settings that underlie everything the software does. In a sense, they’re almost unconscious, which is what our own “configuration settings” tend to be.
