Bushcrafters and technology

[blacktimberwolf]

Arthur C Clarke commenting on Stonehenge said that it showed that if a baby born in the Stone Age was transported through time and brought up in present day he would be quite capable of being an astronaut.

Obviously...............any baby brought back from the last 200,000 years would be perfectly at home with us if they had been raised in modern times........We are products of our enviroment
The same can't be said of Neandethals with whom our species lived along side for 100,000 years, in fact researchers now believe that we cross bred with them & that around 2% of our genetic make up is neanderthalian..................the percentage may be a little higher around where I live though

 

[Paul_B]

To some a mobile is a gadget but when you need one in an emergency or to let a loved one know you are ok when out and about it is a tool. My personal opinion is if you use something because it has a function rather than you use it because a function it has meets your needs then it is a gadget and perhaps unnecessary at that moment in time. Later on you might need that function for real or more valid reasons.

I have two phones a galaxy s2 and BB bold. They both get turned off in the hills and only turned back on for a brief while to report in. It is a tool then IMHO. IT is also for emergencies hence two phones taken. The S2 runs out of battery way too quyickly but the BB lasts a full week if left on and even longer if turned of most of the time. BOth phones can be used at different times as they are better at different things. I could of course go without them but for family's piece of mind I prefer the contact.

I'm afraid all this talk of gadgets and tools is really irrelevant as it is down to you what you carry when out and about. You don;t need phones but perhaps they are now increasingly being treated as essential like a map and compass??!!

BTW i have apps like google star maps and kindle and google books. I'd like a kindle for backpacking with. I listen to mp3s on my BB bold when wildcamping. That is my way to help me sleep. I would get a really bad night and not enjoy the next day , indeed would be tired and unable to do as much, if I didn't have some music to unwind and wind down to sleep. Perhaps that makes it more of a tool than a gadget to me. Some use whiskey to sleep I use music on my BB. What is really wrong with that??

BTW Google star maps is one App that makes my S2 worth carrying IMHO. I would never learn enough about the sky at night to replace it!!

 

[mousey]

Also any modern-day baby transported back in time and brought up in the stone-age would be quite capable of being a caveman

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Top post.

I am also baffled by groups of people who seem to be out together but when you watch them a bit closer they have nothing to say to one another because they are constantly playing with their electronic comforters.

Not just outside !.......I predict that the future genetic human mutations will include a longer & more mobile right thumb & short sightedness as people will never have to look further than a hand held screen

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Also any modern-day baby transported back in time and brought up in the stone-age would be quite capable of being a caveman

I can think of a few adults who would happily take that journey too

 

[AndyJDickson]

Well its just struck me that this chat is quite ironic considering we are on this technology based forum

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[mousey]

Well its just struck me that this chat is quite ironic considering we are on this technology based forum

Sent from my HTC Salsa C510e using Tapatalk

Yes, but then again it would take forever writting this in letters and relying on the post service

Plastic cups and bits of string anyone??

 

[blacktimberwolf]

Well its just struck me that this chat is quite ironic considering we are on this technology based forum

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Haha,... could be wrong but this thread is more about taking technology out with us in the field or woods, not denying it all together

 

[Stringmaker]

Not just outside !.......I predict that the future genetic human mutations will include a longer & more mobile right thumb & short sightedness as people will never have to look further than a hand held screen

We're already a long way down that road:

 

[mousey]

Now I LIKE that picture, unfortunatley the last one looks alittle like me, although I do managed to get a pair of pants, trousers and a shirt on in the morning.

 

[rik_uk3]

I have to take my mobile phone with me or I'd miss Judge Judy:yikes: Can use Netflix now on the phone too

Agreed about Google Skymaps, its a great little application, at least you can point it at the sky and see displayed objects on the screen you could see with the naked eye if it weren't bloomin cloudy or peeing down with rain




Sent from my PC (i7, 12GB ram, 6TB storage, Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit)
Not my Galaxy S2 without tapatalk

 

[cbr6fs]

As with anything you can look at technology as restricting and a bad thing or you can look at it as a goood thing and something that helps.

Here's one good thing about technology.


I am on-call with my work.
Pre mobile phones this meant i had to be near a land line in case my pager went off, or pre pager stuck in the office, even with the pager remote diagnosis was difficult as i wouldn't always carry around manuals with me.

Now days i have my mobile phone so i can actually go out hiking and camping, plus if i do get called i have every single manual stored on my phone.


So this is just 1 instance where technology has freed me and allowed me more time outdoors.


Add to that the ability to call folks we're meeting to tell them we are going to early/late, call them to ask exact directions to that remote spot where we leave our cars, text/call our loved ones to tell them we're ok.

Then there is the ability to call for help, sure mobile phones can have sketchy signals in some areas , but EPIRB's PLB's etc are still technology and they have savedmany many a persons life both on land and sea.

 

[Swallow]

Obviously...............any baby brought back from the last 200,000 years would be perfectly at home with us if they had been raised in modern times........We are products of our enviroment
The same can't be said of Neandethals with whom our species lived along side for 100,000 years, in fact researchers now believe that we cross bred with them & that around 2% of our genetic make up is neanderthalian..................the percentage may be a little higher around where I live though

I wouldn't be too sure about the Neanderthal thing
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11408298
but it's all guesswork anyway.

If we are products of our environment then why the distinction between "us" and "Neanderthal"?

Also any modern-day baby transported back in time and brought up in the stone-age would be quite capable of being a caveman

It's 2012 won't we find out at the end of year?

 

[blacktimberwolf]

.

If we are products of our environment then why the distinction between "us" and "Neanderthal"?

Though they had larger brains the Neanderthals were never as technologically advanced as the contemporary Homo sapiens ( nor as adaptable) & should they have survived it's doubtful they would have attained our current level of technology. ....So no Neanderthals in space.
Had we disappeared & the Neanderthals survived, the world would probably be in better shape than it is.now

 

[mousey]

....So no Neanderthals in space.

We could have put them up there instead of the monkeys