I know that this will sound a bit Hamletian for a Sunday morning. And don’t take this in the wrong way. But we’re all dying. Except teenagers, of course – they’re still at that age when they think that they are immortal. Bless them.

The realisation of our mortality will not come with a dramatic bang, complete with a Greek chorus of black-clothed figures, their eyes swaying in the night like paraffin lamps, their voices keening a wailing lament.

Rather, it will be a whimper. A leaking tap that will drip no more. A conspiracy of experiences that will only leave an evaporating puddle of memories.

But let me correct my mark. It’s not just this too solid flesh that will melt. Everything is dying. Everything has an inbuilt obsolescence, planned or otherwise. Days will end and your car will, one fine morning, stagger to the side of the road and give up its three-cylinder ghost. Your cat (sorry about this) will not survive its ninth life. And that €500 suit you just bought? Fashion, or the dry cleaners, will kill it.

All forms of technology, despite being an embodiment of an imagined or desired future, will also run out of juice. The computer, for instance, has been on its proverbial death bed for the last couple of years. Statistics recently published by US research firm Gartner show how computers suffered a 9.5 per cent decline in worldwide shipments in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same period last year.

This is the biggest drop in two years and further dims the computer’s dying light. In the meantime, the future of tablets and smartphones is getting brighter. While in the second quarter of this year, the number of computers shipped tallied to 66.1 million units, Apple says that it has sold 61 million iPhones during the same quarter. And that’s just one smartphone from one company.

The death of the computer is not a new story. Why else would manufacturers be revising their business models and service providers prioritising mobile-friendly systems and sites?

It’s clear that the computer will not recover from its steady decline and will probably settle into a niche. But every death heralds a new beginning. It’s just one form of technology – and not technology itself – that is losing connection. Other forms, whatever they may be, will be plugged in.

techeditor@timesofmalta.com