This weekend I had the opportunity to catch up on some of my favorite past-times one of which was listening to spoken word poetry. I must confess it's one of my favorite things to enjoy when I have the time. There's something about the lyrical manner of speech mixed with half-rhymes and the constant twisting of common expressions I simply love (Quick disclaimer, I'm not a huge fan of the "angry"-style). It's been a while since I've had the privilege and there were several I found particularly interesting. I'll only share one with you now:

Of course I couldn't help myself but apply my own thinking to the words and though I didn't relate to the loss of a close friend I did find myself struck by the word "Almost" and the power it held. I concluded that I might also have found a new favorite worst word (although as irony would have it my previous least favorite word was indeed: "moist").

There's another word in my line of work which is often presented in much the same fashion as "almost" and I might suggest it represents a synonymous meaning. This is a word we see constantly in technology and software and one which turns my stomach equally bad. Curious? I'll not keep you in suspense. The word I believe holds the same terrible connotation is thrown around as a label for new software, the latest tech and just about anything else where companies would like a free pass for mistakes: Beta.

Now since this is just a quick thought I'll leave it there but perhaps allow me to leave you with something to think about for yourself. As our technological advancements push more into life-and-death situations (such as self-driving vehicles) shouldn't the complacent attitude we hold towards "beta" software and "patch releases" be treated with a bit more disdain and loathing?