A part of our addiction to the internet is the idea that any hole in our knowledge can be patched quickly and authoritatively with a fast consult with the web. The Cloud of Unknowing is only an unnoticeable blip when we can know any bit of news, any point of history, and any number of life within just a few seconds. Until you can't.
When I traveled in Zambia and South Africa, there were a very few times that I wasn't in contact with the Truth Above for casual curiosity as well and keeping the wheels of the organizations of my life turning. Not Cuba.
Cuba has internet, sort of. You pay for wifi access on an hourly basis, but even then many of my cherished apps and websites don't make it through. News articles of certain topics will not make it through. Things about Russia? Sorry. Unless you figure out that VPN thing.
Complex apps or mass email servers do not work at all. My blog website does not load in the best of times. Who knows why?
Facebook, on the other hand, always makes it through, with occasional delays on pictures. Even when it appears as though there is no connection, Facebook gets through. Neither I nor my Google son can figure this out. I am able to post birthday wishes for peripheral friends, but not make important email distributions. I can't help but wonder what kind of deal Facebook has with the Cuban government. I'd love to research that with a Google search, but of course . . .
The impact of not knowing what is going on when you are used to knowing what is going on is a dim sense of anxiety that you will miss doing something you should do because of facts unknown to you. Many of us pride ourselves on knowing what is going on, trained by urgent notifications from Google, Facebook, and our newfeeds. We will one-up each other no matter what else is going on. At meetings, I will get notices from other folks at the meeting(!) asking if I saw that the President of Marist College had been fired, or something like that.
Travelling without the Library in the Sky also makes it hard to figure out the 'objective' worth of something. How much should I pay for a Cuban cigar from a street vendor? Trick question! street folks selling cigars are selling cheaper knock offs that you shouldn't buy at all. Even considering the value of location and a general desire to help folks out, not knowing how badly you are being taken is disturbing. Why doesn't this bother me for prescriptions in the US tho?
Anyway, as a person of faith, a little humility about our knowledge base is a good thing. Imagining that we (or that the web) know everything and that everything is fixable is not simply empty optimism, it is an arrogance that leads to disappointment and abuse of power.
Anyway, as a person of faith, a little humility about our knowledge base is a good thing. Imagining that we (or that the web) know everything and that everything is fixable is not simply empty optimism, it is an arrogance that leads to disappointment and abuse of power.