Techno-Civilization and Its Discontents (The downside of mind-numbing technology.)

The American Prowler ^ | 6/20/2006 | Brandon Crocker

[Mamzelle]

I carry a fountain pen in my handbag. I'm amused when someone wants to 'borrow a pen" because they expect some throwaway thing, and then they get ink all over them and become annoyed with me.

A fountain pen does carry a nostalgia from my early elementary years, in that dinosaur age when one was expected to write in an attractive way. I had one teacher with a genuine Spencerian script--

[Jaysun]

When I'm done I yell "Fetch me a concubine, my chattle, I need pleasuring"! I then beat them mercilessly with the same unabridged dictionary I just used to look up the spelling of "chattle".

The plump strumpet that's been sucking my toes just stopped to say that you must have meant "chattel" instead of "chattle". Not to worry brother, I split her perverse lips with a swift Karate Kid style crane kick.

I usually only need several sets of conjoined twins to attend to my perversions, which are many.

[Jaysun]

And I bet your chalkboard has a spell/grammar checker, doesn't it?

But is it flameproof?

It has none of those things and is quite flammable. I only bought it because it used to belong to Charles Nelson Reilly, who received it as a Christmas gift from Charles Manson.

[Jaysun]

I have found carving my thoughts in stone tables with a chisel and mallet give me sufficient time to muse about what I'm writing. And the effort involved in error correction has greatly enhanced my spelling and grammer skills.

That requires serious talent. I could never do that because my hands shake uncontrollably, perhaps because I enjoy crack cocaine more than most.

[upchuck]

I could never do that because my hands shake uncontrollably, perhaps because I enjoy crack cocaine more than most.

Crack cocaine is for kids. Be an adult and engage in a little meth. You'll never even think about crack again.

[Jaysun]

Crack cocaine is for kids. Be an adult and engage in a little meth. You'll never even think about crack again.

I'm a reasonable man and I'm always willing to try new things. Where does one purchase this meth?

[Erasmus]

Oh, yeah? Well, I just entered this post using my Vibroplex.

So there.

+++-< }B^)

[upchuck]

Assuming you local crack dealer has some entrepreneurial spirit, that may be a source.

If not, maybe some of the people here can help you.

[Jaysun]

Maybe my local crack dealer, Werner Von MethLab, can help. Dear God, one apparently has to be willing to sacrifice his or her face to enjoy meth. Oh well, we can't have it all.

[Jaysun]

Oh, yeah? Well, I just entered this post using my Vibroplex.
So there.


Hmmm, Morse Code. Impressive. You aren't the famed Erasmus that rewrote the entire Bible in braille using only a few tubes of glue and a bucket of poppy seeds, are you?

If so, let me say that I'm honored to meet you. And may I have your autograph (in poppy seed braille, of course)?

[driftless]

"ridiculous"

I don't think you've grasped his argument. Which is the more we let machines do for us, the less we are able to do for ourselves. He is not arguing against all machines. In fact he lists a number of them that he loves. But I agree with his basic premise that if a person depends on machines to do everything, what happens when the machines break down? He, like me, believes that too many people are allowing machines to run their lives. Spectators instead of participants.

Along with the wonderful inventions, we should try to maintain our own intellectual strengths. Physical pursuits as well. I can buy fire wood at the store, but personally chopping wood will reap extra benefits not acquired by merely purchasing the already choppped and bundled wood. (oh, my aching back!) Incidentally thanks to a youthful interest in baseball statistics, I can add up a column of numbers in my head faster than I can with a calculator.

[robowombat]

'Which is the more we let machines do for us, the less we are able to do for ourselves.'

This is very obvious in maritime navigation. The advent of GPS has made being able to use a sextant and do the necessary position finding calculations obsolete. Many position finding systems (such as ships radar) have been developed to the point where using them is almost akin to the automatic calculation features on many cash registers.
The decline in a requirement for navigational skills has led to a spillage in printed directions and texts. I was examining the '200th Anniversary' (2002) edition of 'Bowditch's American Practical Navigator' now issued by NIMA. Comparisons with the 1962 and 1984 editions are interesting. The 2002 edition comes in at just under 900 pages, however a quick check reveals that the margins are wider and the type face several points bigger than earlier editions. A number of chapters describing theory and practice of navigation have been combined, shortened and simplified. The overall level of writing has also been stepped down to what seems to be the military '8th grade comprehension standard' (not sarcasm this is the written comprehension standard that has been in place for some years for many instructions and directions.) The 1984 edition is 1400 plus pages in its first volume with a nearly 1000 page volume two which is largely although by no means exclusively devoted to tables and charts which can be kept updated now more easily on the net. The 1962 edition runs to about 1500 pages including over 200 pages of tables.
Comparing the content of the 2002 edition to earlier editions permits one to draw some conclusions. Any small craft sailor planning to use the 2002 edition as a guide for practical navigation will find that many concepts are described in such a summary or general was to be virtually useless. Also readers are constantly referred to various very simplified automated navigation systems which are available only on larger craft. Finally, the discussion of how to locate position by using a sextant is treated in a much shorter and simpler manner in which anyone trying to teach themselves this skill will not be able to learn beyond some very relaxed standards of doing so. This reflects the decline of the sextant as a navigational tool to a virtual item of antiquarian interest. Certainly GPS and self regulating navigational and haven finding devices make the sailors life both more comfortable and safer. However one wonders what would happen if GPS were significantly interrupted without warning.

[Lazamataz]

If this man is nostalgic let him scribble away. Many, including myself, still write letters. But it's a bit absurd to bemoan the faster and easier in favor of what he sees as romantic. People still know how to do arithmetic and write the letters of the alphabet. To spend 30 minutes doing what can be done in half the time with a small machine is ridiculous.

If G-d meant us to fly and travel down the road at 60 MPH and eat hot pop-tarts, He'd have given us anti-grav and laser-beam eyes.

[neb52]

You make a very good point. I have always felt it was necessary to learn things the hard way first. Which gives you a better understanding of how it works and how you could support/repair it. In the IT field I see this a lot with companies that use for example Indians. The Indians know the new technology very well, but they don't know older still in use technology. This causes a problem for them to be able to get the older and newer technology to work together. Its an area that us Americans still enjoy a specialty in, but that want last as the older tech becomes ancient and the newer becomes the older.

[Erasmus]

Hmmm, Morse Code. Impressive. You aren't the famed Erasmus that rewrote the entire Bible in braille using only a few tubes of glue and a bucket of poppy seeds, are you?

No, but I do have The Last Supper on the side of my barn done in colored sunflower seeds.

I had to put a screen over it to keep the birds away.

[lesser_satan]

I'm presuming you'll retire to your vomitorium afterwards, where you'll offer the blood of lowborn commoners to your golden busts of Caligula and Bacchus.

[Jaysun]

I don't think you've grasped his argument. Which is the more we let machines do for us, the less we are able to do for ourselves. He is not arguing against all machines. In fact he lists a number of them that he loves. But I agree with his basic premise that if a person depends on machines to do everything, what happens when the machines break down? He, like me, believes that too many people are allowing machines to run their lives. Spectators instead of participants.

Along with the wonderful inventions, we should try to maintain our own intellectual strengths. Physical pursuits as well. I can buy fire wood at the store, but personally chopping wood will reap extra benefits not acquired by merely purchasing the already choppped and bundled wood. (oh, my aching back!) Incidentally thanks to a youthful interest in baseball statistics, I can add up a column of numbers in my head faster than I can with a calculator.

I'd agree with that point except to say that besides anecdotal evidence, there's no evidence to support the notion that machines are dumbing us down.

My grandfather forced us to use ledger books as kids (thank God) and taught us basic bookkeeping. So I too can add up a column of numbers in my head quite fast.

[Jaysun]

If G-d meant us to fly and travel down the road at 60 MPH and eat hot pop-tarts, He'd have given us anti-grav and laser-beam eyes.

Mum's the word, but he did give me anti gravity.

[Jaysun]

I'm presuming you'll retire to your vomitorium afterwards, where you'll offer the blood of lowborn commoners to your golden busts of Caligula and Bacchus.

I have a lead-reinforced Brinks truck drop me off inside my heavily fortified bunker, sixty floors below "Jaysun Town" (a small enclave where all of my employees live, comprised of row after row of squalid dirt-floored shacks the payments for which are deducted from their checks, and whatever is left over is given to them in the form of Jaysun-dollars which they can then spend at the Jaysun Town Market). My bunker consist of two rooms. The first room is an exact replica of the jungle room in Graceland. The other is a titanium vault which contains my bed and a television that plays "Eraserhead" on a perpetual loop.

Here's a never before seen picture of my jungle room. The titanium bedroom is off limits to all eyes except my own (I killed the workmen) and shall remain that way.



PS - You, sir, have a bizarre sense of humor.

.

[Jaysun]

No, but I do have The Last Supper on the side of my barn done in colored sunflower seeds.

I had to put a screen over it to keep the birds away.

Do you work with lentils? I'd like to commission a nude of myself. The last "artist" refused to compromise on the size of certain things and couldn't get my hair right.