The world accelerates into the distance....
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See that^ is my kind of take on it.
We can pick and choose which parts of the technology we want to make use of.
Pesonally I love the fact that my phone has a radio, camera and MP3 player on it but there's no way I want a van made after 2002 cos I just don't want a common rail diesel engine Canbus wiring and electric windows. I neither need nor want all that.
The one I have can be fixed mostly by me.
I'm another who likes some really old bits of kit but mixes it up with brand new technology, I just like things that work well, don't mind which era they are from.
I had limited access to my local library as a kid. It all depended if I could persuade my old man to take me. But now, I don't even have to leave my home, worry about late return fines and can access anything that takes my fancy on a whim. I have never read a novel in my life and have always favoured reading text books instead.
discussion with son about 7/8 months after he bought first car me have you checked oil / him no have you checked water / no . me why , lights will come on dashboard he is a web developer so without a computer he is lost
Me too, thought I was just getting crusty in my old rage.
Seriously, I think a (re-)read of Brave New World and 1984 will help put it all in perspective.
Bread and circuses, soma and sex. I think our modern world walks the line between these 2 books, yet is even more insidious.
Unfortunately one can't let these changes slide by because they will affect you, and the world you live in.
John the Savage may have had the only answer...
Seriously, I think a (re-)read of Brave New World and 1984 will help put it all in perspective.
Bread and circuses, soma and sex. I think our modern world walks the line between these 2 books, yet is even more insidious.
Unfortunately one can't let these changes slide by because they will affect you, and the world you live in.
John the Savage may have had the only answer...
I've updated the most famous quote from 1984: 'If you want a vision of the future, imagine a facile soundbite being fed into a human ear, for ever.'
I find my feet firmly planted in two very different camps. This week I have been fixing up my Roman armour, re-building and updating my computer, camping out on the Llyn Peninsula and Photographing the dust of the Galactic Plane with camera technology beyond my wildest dreams just a few years ago.
I think we are living in a Golden Age.
I think we are living in a Golden Age.
To put this into perspective its maybe worth remembering how we all cherry pick what level of technology we use.
For instance, the computer we use to view and type this out on wasn't designed in 1890.
Its just that some people automatically seem to assume that newer is always better (four blade cartridge razor with vibrating action anyone?) and others get to try out some older stuff and realise that there's some old stuff that's as good if not better, and certainly cheaper.
For instance, the computer we use to view and type this out on wasn't designed in 1890.
Its just that some people automatically seem to assume that newer is always better (four blade cartridge razor with vibrating action anyone?) and others get to try out some older stuff and realise that there's some old stuff that's as good if not better, and certainly cheaper.
Spot on. Another thing that we seem to have forgotten is that things used to be made to last. But we now live in a disposable era where things normally break within a month of the warranty expiring, requiring either a costly repair or replacement where the process is repeated a couple of years down the line. I always find it funny that in our advancement, we don't make things anywhere near as long lasting as we did even just 50 years ago. It seems a bit of a contradiction in my view.
If humanity as a whole said "nah I'm comfortable here thanks" we'd all still be sitting around in caves banging rocks together 
Granted not all technology / change is good. But for the most part I do belive it has made our lives "better".
However I do feel a bit uneasy when I go to school and find kids using touch screen computers and interactive white boards !! - even the nursery my daughter went to had an ipad! But then that is part of life and the world they are growing up in - if kids can't use the tools of their [and future] ages then they will not be able to survive.
Granted not all technology / change is good. But for the most part I do belive it has made our lives "better".
However I do feel a bit uneasy when I go to school and find kids using touch screen computers and interactive white boards !! - even the nursery my daughter went to had an ipad! But then that is part of life and the world they are growing up in - if kids can't use the tools of their [and future] ages then they will not be able to survive.
This is indeed a good thread and very thought provoking.
There is a kind of "technology creep", certainly where cars are concerned. Changing the headlamp bulb without dismantling the front end is a classic example; hence the huge numbers of cars you now see with one light out. It also doesn't take much to make a car "beyond ecomomic repair" and thus written off; airbags cost four figures to replace. It won't be long either before there are masses more cars being driven around with no MOT (and thus no insurance) simply because a dashboard bulb has failed and the owner can't afford the likely three figure sum to have it replaced by taking the thing apart. Call that progress?
My worry is more about the blind assumption in some quarters that everything electronic has to be better; especially in research. It is no coincidence that Universities have a problem with plaigarism and students just pasting stuff they found online into an essay and expecting that to be good enough.
Show them a proper reference library with, you know, real books and stuff and they wouldn't know where to start.
Of course our world and our lives are immeasurably more convenient and comfortable but it is important to be able to put modern technology in context. I have a smart phone which can do things to make your head spin, but when the crummy battery goes flat I still know how to get from A to B and can read a paper book along the way.
There is a kind of "technology creep", certainly where cars are concerned. Changing the headlamp bulb without dismantling the front end is a classic example; hence the huge numbers of cars you now see with one light out. It also doesn't take much to make a car "beyond ecomomic repair" and thus written off; airbags cost four figures to replace. It won't be long either before there are masses more cars being driven around with no MOT (and thus no insurance) simply because a dashboard bulb has failed and the owner can't afford the likely three figure sum to have it replaced by taking the thing apart. Call that progress?
My worry is more about the blind assumption in some quarters that everything electronic has to be better; especially in research. It is no coincidence that Universities have a problem with plaigarism and students just pasting stuff they found online into an essay and expecting that to be good enough.
Show them a proper reference library with, you know, real books and stuff and they wouldn't know where to start.
Of course our world and our lives are immeasurably more convenient and comfortable but it is important to be able to put modern technology in context. I have a smart phone which can do things to make your head spin, but when the crummy battery goes flat I still know how to get from A to B and can read a paper book along the way.
I wasn't referring just to technology. A niece phoning up to say, 'I'm marrying my girlfriend when the law changes, and my other girlfriend will be the bridesmaid. Her husband's going to be the Best Man' put me on the back foot a bit. Not that I think, on reflection, that they ought not to be allowed such complicated relationships if they want them, but it kind of startles me a bit. Perhaps it just reminds me how old I'm getting, I'm not 50 yet but sometimes I feel like about 200.
Oh I know you were talking about a broader feeling; technology was just my take.
There is a whole debate to be had about the "liberalisation" of society for example, and the fallout from it. At a recent school visit to our woodland project I asked one teacher a hypothetical question about how many of the class of 30 were living with their married birth parents, and were not on the social services radar. The look on his face was all I needed to know.
There is a whole debate to be had about the "liberalisation" of society for example, and the fallout from it. At a recent school visit to our woodland project I asked one teacher a hypothetical question about how many of the class of 30 were living with their married birth parents, and were not on the social services radar. The look on his face was all I needed to know.
I don't mind the fact that my niece wants two girlfriends and to marry one of them, and the husband of the other is fine with it: better that than fear and repression. I grew up in the 70s, when two close gentlemen friends would be referred to as 'confirmed bachelors' who 'shared a house', and everyone understood and nothing more needed to be or was said. Having people tell you about their unusual domestic arrangements and sex lives, in the same casual-but-committed way that people used to talk about their new lawnmower or where they intended to holiday, makes me feel uncomfortable in a way I can't quite put my finger on.
Not got him sucked into the prepping then?
If humanity as a whole said "nah I'm comfortable here thanks" we'd all still be sitting around in caves banging rocks together
Granted not all technology / change is good. But for the most part I do belive it has made our lives "better".
ya reckon?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23758087
It is part of the world they are growing up in, but it is only part, and there is not guarentee that it will be a major part of the world they are in as an adult. So it makes far more sense to have a wider view than current predictions (which are usually wrong anyway). They should be multi-skilled and multi-perspective not fodder for the introductions to James May's Man Lab.
There's the grimmest part. While everybody obsesses or fantasizes about some sort of technological collapse, they usually ignore the obvious reality; that whatever we think of as cutting edge now will be obsolete soon.
TBH that's true of more "normal" relationships as well. I remember when any person's sex life (whether straight or gay) was private.
To some degree, yes. Despite all the costs, modern cars tend to last for several hundred thousand miles before wearing out. As recently as the 1970s models, the norm was less than 85,000 miles. I get close to that out of a single set of tires now.
And it's really not worth obsessing over what technologies will be around. I didn't see a computer 'til I was 14 but still made a career in that area. For a lot of this people on the forum there will be a similar thing. The "late introduction" did not stop the learning and use of the "new technology". And likewise for younger people "late introduction" of "old technology" will not stop them mastering it if they choose to do so.
Our ability to learn and adapt in any moment is limited only by our attitude.
I know what you mean, my daughter is a 'gay magnet' many of her friends male and female are gay, personally I don't give a rat's bum about a persons sexuality but I do wish 'they' did not keep telling us, "Hi, I'm John/Joan and I'm gay"...who gives a flying do dar. Imagine me meeting a new nurse and saying "Hi, I'm Richard and I'm heterosexual"....I'd be banged up for harassment lol. Do you think a heterosexual carnival would be OK? Perhaps not PC and I ain't talking computers.
I think you'd be surprised how quickly people would adapt if the big plague/wipeout happened and many would survive, their learning curve would be steeper than some of us here but I think many would do just fine.
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