Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/02/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]What i sometimes worry about is atrophy. Let me explain. I have my wifes mobile telephone number in my mobiles number one slot. So usually i voice dial her or if i want to be discreet speed dial. As a consequence i forget her telephone number. With todays phones you,d have most people on voice. Were in the past i,d refresh maybe 50 memory slots in my main memory nowadays maybe 10. Does that lead to atrophy of some remote corner of my memory banks or is the capacity allocated elsewhere? Without any doubt however communication errors are reduced. And that was the purpose of the technology. From my own field(aviation ) i know for a fact that the highest number of navigation mistakes are made on state of the art flightdecks. Usually it is the result of complacency and sometimes interface error. The latter is very interesting because then you get new toys. The first thing that i noticed 20 years ago when i started frequenting the United States is that people dont do mental math. We used to laugh about it. But is it really that bad . Even older people who are still proficient at it usually have no concept of the math involved. So is there really knowledge lost. Or just monkey tricks regards simon/away - ----- Original Message ----- From: "Henry Ting" <henryting10@yahoo.com> To: <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us> Sent: Tuesday, February 25, 2003 9:43 AM Subject: Re: [Leica] Lost kids today (WAS these kids today! ) > Not a bad thing at all. What's bad is a new generation > of technocrats (as in bureaucrats) that are using > technology in the most inappropriate way. While they > know all the high-tech buzz words, but would be > absolutely clueless on the "whys" and "hows". > > --- animal <s.jessurun95@chello.nl> wrote: > > > > But is that a bad thing? > > Why would you want everybody to remember ancient > > technology? > > The enthusiasts like to and others dont. > > Also the full science of an object is not known to > > anyone person alone. > > Even seemingly simple things are way beyond us. > > With cameras what you see people do these days with > > small digitals is very > > nice i think. > > Like pictures they take of people and events in > > their daily lives. > > And exchanging them in a blink. > > Marvelous. > > Also the places were you,d be stuck without > > batteries are rapidly > > disappearing. > > I do hope that in the states people have not > > forgotten to communicate with > > tin cans and a string though. > > best regards > > simon > > > > > Technology is a blessing and a curse, because so > > many things are auto-this > > > and auto-that, it seems to become a bit silly. > > Now there are many people > > > younger than me (and I'm almost 17) who will have > > no clue what an LP is, > > > they will also never see a rotary-dial telephone, > > much less know anything > > > about vacuum tubes, or command-line operating > > systems or know what it is > > > like to change a channel by turning a knob. many > > of these kids may not > > > learn how to use a real Manual camera, or respect > > the capabilities of such > > > cameras. I am one of the few in my generation > > that prefers a 35 year old > > > leicaflex SL over "modern" cameras. > > > > > > -Forrest Herr > > > (still rolling up car windows manually) > > > > > > > > About 6 or 7 years ago a neighbour's kid of > > about 12 came over while I > > > > > was outside the garage and asked to use our > > phone, as he had locked > > > > > himself out of the house. I directed him to > > the phone in the garage, > > > > > which was an old black rotary dial desk phone. > > He picked up the > > > > > receiver, looked at the dial and then at me > > and asked "How do you work > > > > > this?". > > > > > > > > > > > > > I had the same experience recently with a couple > > of kids of about the > > > > same age. The situation was a cheap rental car > > that had manual roll-up > > > > windows. The kids were first baffled, then > > fascinated :-). > > > > > > > > I'd frankly forgotten that manual car windows > > had fallen out of common > > > > experience. > > > > > > > > Rolfe > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Rolfe Tessem | Lucky Duck Productions, > > Inc. > > > > rolfe@ldp.com | 96 Morton Street > > > > (212) 463-0029 | New York, Ny 10014 > > > > -- > > To unsubscribe, see > http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html > > > __________________________________________________ > Do you Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Tax Center - forms, calculators, tips, more > http://taxes.yahoo.com/ > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html