In an unexpected twist that could easily be mistaken for political satire, Vice President Kamala Harris recently found herself at the heart of an unintentional comedy sketch. The stage was set for her to clarify the concept of cloud storage—a fundamental aspect of today’s technology that even high school students understand. However, Harris’s explanation seemed more rooted in a children’s fantasy book than in technical briefings.
Picture this: an audience eagerly awaiting insights from one of America’s “top leaders” in an era defined by digital transformation. Instead, they are treated to a performance worthy of a top-tier comedy sketch. Harris started with the intensity of someone about to unveil a great secret, saying, “No longer are you keeping private files in some file cabinet that’s locked in the basement of the house.” She then gestured towards the sky and added, “It’s on your laptop, and then—therefore—it’s up here in this cloud that exists above us.”
Just to set the record straight: cloud storage doesn’t involve actual cumulus or stratus clouds. It refers to data stored in physical data centers, very much grounded on Earth. Yet, Harris continued, gazing skywards and securing her spot in the history of tech-related blunders. “Right?” she asked her interviewer, seemingly seeking divine clarification.
Here’s Kamala Harris attempting to explain “cloud storage”
Yes, this is real.
No wonder they won’t let her speak off script. pic.twitter.com/1s3Ha5WUbF
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) August 3, 2024
This isn’t Kamala Harris’s first encounter with perplexing the tech-savvy crowd. Her previous attempts to decipher artificial intelligence included statements like, “First of all, it’s two letters,” leaving audiences wondering if they had missed some obscure joke.
But let’s return to the cloud conundrum. Harris’s imagery was evocative of scenes from a storybook, where data is scattered amongst the stars and protected by digital fairies. This whimsical yet utterly inaccurate depiction might have been charming if it weren’t so alarmingly detached from reality. The Vice President’s description made it sound as though every time we save a file, it ascends to join a heavenly archive, possibly overseen by a kind digital deity.
The irony is stark: the United States, a global leader in technology, is represented by an individual who appears to believe that cloud storage involves literal clouds. This isn’t just a minor error; Harris is also responsible for formulating regulations related to Artificial Intelligence, making her lack of basic technological literacy all the more troubling.
Harris isn’t alone in this cloud confusion. Over a decade ago, an Indian official similarly described cloud storage as susceptible to rain-induced outages—a myth that quickly became meme material. But in 2024, with cloud technology well-established, Harris’s misunderstanding feels especially out of place.
Kamala Harris has unintentionally become a source of amusement in the tech world. Her next public appearance promises more inadvertent humor. Will she take on blockchain next, perhaps describing it as a series of Lego bricks floating in space? Only time will reveal. Until then, keep your files safely stored—in datacenters, not the sky.
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