Welcome!
Scott plays bass with the band, Frozen Echo, at our practice studio.
I’m Scott Darlington and this is my personal web site. I retired from IBM Canada at the end of 2015, where I had been a Senior Product Manager for many years. I also spent years at ObjecTime Limited, which was acquired by Rational, which was then acquired by IBM. I may be retired from the high-tech world, but there’s lots more for me to do. Below, you can find out more about who I am, what I do now that I’m retired, and what’s next for me.
Finally, check out my blog posts for the latest information!
More About Me
Under the three icons below you’ll find a list and descriptions of my other web sites.
My Other Sites
A Grey World
As a simple example, consider the kerfuffle between the FBI and Apple. The FBI wants Apple to help them get into an iPhone used at work by one of the San Bernardino shooters. If you trust the government, and you really fear terrorism, then you’re likely to favour the FBI in this issue. On the other hand, if you don’t trust the government and really value your privacy, then you probably favour Apple in this case. And if you see terrorism as the least of your worries given how rarely it occurs compared to car accidents, gun deaths, and so on, then you’re really likely to favour Apple.
Very few people understand the technical issues surrounding encryption. So, it’s easy to see why Apple’s position about letting the genie out of the bottle is given little weight. The FBI itself doesn’t seem to understand the issues. They’ve been telling people it’s only about one iPhone in this one case, and that it isn’t about setting a precedent. (In front of a committee, the FBI admitted that, of course, they’d use it as a precedent.) If you trust the government, then you probably trust the FBI, and so you’re doubly convinced that Apple is in the wrong. Then again, Apple has bent the truth in some ways, too.
Once we understand the reasons people hold their viewpoints, it’s much easier to have a reasoned discussion in place of a shouting match. Should you trust the government? Is terrorism a big threat? How important is the privacy of your mobile phone? What would really happen if Apple built a “GovtOS” to help the FBI in this case? Now we can debate the heart of the matter.
In the end, if you can’t fairly articulate both positions and the reasons for them, then you don’t really understand the other side. Therefore, you’re not entitled to a strong opinion!
The following sites all redirect to AGreyWorld.com: AGrayWorld.com, AGrayWorld.org, AGreyWorld.org, GrayIssues.com, GrayIssues.org, GreyIssues.com, and GreyIssues.org.
Darlington Mediaworks
Frozen Echo
Grey World Productions
Master of Leisure
ObjecTime
The site ObjecTime.ca redirects to ObjecTime.org.
Precision Lightning
My web sites try to present balanced opinions that carefully consider the many sides of a debate. The exception was going to be PrecisionLightning.com. Within my circle of friends, I have a reputation for a good rant on a variety of topics. Though I planned to be a bit more tempered than that, the site was going to contain strong, perhaps even acerbic, constructive criticism of politics, policies, or general issues. However, this site was a fairly low priority. I finally realized that I wasn’t going to get around to this site so I stopped renewing the domain. Instead, I refer you to AGreyWorld.com.
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