The Problem Isn't the Cloud

When I was a young boy living in St. Louis in the 1960's, we experienced perhaps three or four electrical blackouts per year, each lasting from a few hours to a day or more.  These days, I live in New Jersey and we have a significant blackout roughly every three to four years.  Interestingly, the situation for internet access seems to be similar to what it was for electricity when I was a child.

If today, an area had a two day power outage, the news papers would cover it and politicians would be screaming for the heads of those responsible.  If an area loses internet for two, three, or more days, it gets written off as a minor inconvenience and the service provider might, if they're feeling generous, offer a few free days to compensate.

The computing cloud exists, it works, and it is rapidly improving and evolving.  The weak link in the chain is the infrastructure that delivers the cloud to our devices.  There is absolutely no reason I shouldn't be able to board a bus in NYC and get off in LA, having never lost a strong, fast signal.  No reason except for neglect and shortsightedness.  My country has decided to fund the military industrial complex and let the in net grid go to hell.  Until our priorities get right and we invest fully in our future, the cloud will always be held back by a lack of reliable, universal, coverage.