We Have Forgotten The Real Problem
Sometimes I think we have become too obsessed with Security. Not because security is bad, not because security is not important, but because security was never supposed to be the goal.
The goal is food, the goal is healthcare, the goal is energy, the goal is meaningful jobs, the goal is safety and prosperity of people…
Security is simply one of the mechanisms that helps us sustain these things. Yet somehow we often behave as if security itself is the final destination. It is not!
Technology Exists To Solve Human Problems
When we talk about technology, what are we really trying to accomplish? Do we want another dashboard? Another appliance? Another report?
Or do we want to solve actual human problems? Injustice, disease, hunger, lack of clean energy, lack of access to proper healthcare…
These are the problems that matter, technology should be serving humanity, not the other way around.
“The best technology is the one that disappears behind the solution.”
The Strange Priorities Of Modern Society
We spend enormous resources protecting systems. But what are those systems protecting?
At the end of the day, they are protecting people, resources and services:
- A secure hospital is valuable because of patients.
- A secure power plant is valuable because of energy.
- A secure food supply chain is valuable because people need food.
Remove the human element and security loses its purpose. That is why I sometimes find the discussion around security disconnected from reality.
We spend more time discussing tools than discussing people. More time discussing threats than discussing needs.
Real Jobs, Real Food, Real Health
There is another uncomfortable question: What do we consider productive work?
Many people spend their entire day staring at screens…meetings about meetings…reports about reports…presentations about presentations…
Meanwhile, humanity still struggles with some of the most fundamental challenges:
- We still have hunger.
- We still have preventable diseases.
- We still have communities without access to proper healthcare.
- We still have energy challenges.
- We still have injustice.
Technology should be helping us address these problems more effectively, mot creating new distractions.
Security In Its Proper Place
Security is important, especially in the twenty-first century. Modern societies depend on technology more than ever before. Without security, businesses struggle, without security, services become unreliable, without security, trust breaks down but security is still only part of a larger picture. A means, not an end…the moment we forget that, we start optimizing for the wrong outcome.
The Goal Remains Human
At the end of the day, security is about protecting something. The question is: what?
The answer has never changed:
- People.
- Their health.
- Their food.
- Their jobs.
- Their future.
Everything else is secondary! Because security is not the goal, “People” are.