My mother had beautiful cursive handwriting, and she didn't have to practice much at it. She was taught to write that way while in school, something schools spent a lot of time on back in her day. I came along in the school system half a century later and learned to write fairly well . . . but nothing like her style. My kids came along and can't write well at all, but they ended up with fairly good educations. My grandkids are handicapped when it comes to handwriting, can hardly do it at all . . . but they graduated from high school and went to college.
One of the most respected jobs in ancient societies was that of being a scribe. Not many people were selected to learn to write, but it's a good thing some people learned to write well or we wouldn't have much in the way of recorded history. We still have a few people in our modern society who can actually write beautifully . . . but they are rare. School districts all over America are abolishing cursive handwriting from curriculums, saying it is no longer needed. Needed? Replaced by what? Oh, I forgot, it's being replaced by keyboards and hand held gizmos. What to know what else is being replaced? People who can actually spell and read, and if you want to blame that on anything, you can drop that pile of poop at the feet of our modern educators.
Here are a few analogies for you: 1) We no longer have real photographers because the modern generation of snapshot takers don't know diddly-squat about a camera. They've gone digital, and that has robbed the world of photography of some great photographic art. These days, there is very little art to taking pictures . . . and 2) Modern high tech digital equipment has done damage to what real music is supposed to sound like. It's good, for sure, but it's missing all the things that brought warmth and realism to music recorded the old analogue way. Translate that to writing, and you get the picture. If you can't write without pecking out words on a keyboard, you can't really master the language. Education has taken big strides backward in the last half century, almost to the point where we're now managed throughout by a bunch of linguistic cripples. Good reading goes along with good writing, and if you can't read, you're doomed to ignorance.
I'm pissed off about all this because I've been victimized along with millions of others. The only time I actually write these days is when I have to sign my name to something, and I'm not very good at that anymore. I wouldn't even start to present an argument that we'd be better off if everything was written by hand. We moved past that centuries ago, to the printed word, what generation upon generation of people saw on paper. Those words have now moved mostly to monitors, screens, tablets, laptops, etc. But I remember well the learning experience, of how I used to pour over notes taken in class by hand before taking exams. I remember having to write down the things I needed to remember because seeing the words take shape by my own hand caused them to stick in my memory. I've still got most of those old notes stored away. I've got most of my old papers from graduate school, and I can still remember writing them.
And now, I've written dozens of books, all of them on either typewriters or computers using some fancy digital word program . . . and I can't even remember my own books. You'd think they'd be stuck in my brain forever, but they aren't because in a twisted sort of way they're artificial. I could argue that those books would've never been written if I'd been forced to write them by hand, and that's probably true. I did considerable research on some of those books, now lost to me . . . unless I go back and read the notes I made by hand.
Want to be something special? Be a scribe, and you'll be like few others.
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label computers. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Thursday, August 14, 2014
CLINGING TO OLD WAYS NOT ALWAYS GOOD
If given an option, I usually choose the old way. I still write snail mail letters, and I pay my bills the old fashioned way, like writing a check and sticking it in an envelope to be mailed. I hate cell phones, am pretty much opposed to internet marketing, distance education, and a bevy of other things . . . including, the work at home trend. According to Forbes, one in five Americans now work from home, and that number is going to increase by 60 percent in the near future. That doesn't sit well with me. People should get up and go to a workplace every day, do it like mom and pop did, stick with a tried and proven system of how a work ethic works best. But does it?
Researchers are saying that stay at home workers decrease traffic jams in cities, and that will save the country billions of gallons of gasoline and carbon emissions. That's a good thing. I think distance education is a shoddy way of getting a diploma. I like the old way best, the one where if you want a college degree, you go to a real college campus, sit in classrooms taught by real professors, and do the good old college student thing. But that's not possible for everyone. Doing that causes great inconveniences, is overly expensive, and it may not insure you of a quality education. For one thing, a quality education is pretty much a thing of the past. Nobody in this day and age expects a college graduate to know as much as those who went through college twenty years ago, much less fifty years ago. But more people have college degrees now, and that feeds the growing demand for employees who are promotable.
Old ways are to be held up as a standard in some respects, but they are no longer practical. Todays high school graduate, that budding college kid, is to some degree retarded by modern technology. Asking one of them to actually think is asking the impossible because they now carry their brains in their pocket in the form of some sort of electronic gizmo. As much as I detest that, it's the present and the future. If you can't keep up with developing technology, you end up functionally crippled. Old ways just don't fit the new world, and I can accept that.
I've got a cell phone in my pocket, but it just works to make calls. I don't text, don't use it to work the internet or anything like that. I've got computers, but I don't market anything, nor do I intend to. My wife does, but that's her thing. My thing is clinging to more fundamental things, doing it the hard way, the slow way . . . and by using my brain . . . you know, the one in your head. But I live in two worlds, and that can get confusing.
"We need a credit card, sir," the clerk says.
"But I don't have credit cards. I pay cash," I say, and get this stupid look in return. It's that dead-eyed,
slack-jawed look you get these days when dealing with people.
Lodging establishments and car rental places, for instance, won't reserve a room for you without a credit card number. That's an inconvenience to an old timer like me. No sweat 'cause I don't travel much and I never rent cars. If I don't have the money on me, I don't buy some things only a card can get you. My life is no worse off without them. I'm forced into some compromise with the new technologies available, those things that make life more convenient on the one hand and more obnoxious on the other. I'll compromise some, even admit that some of the changes for for the good of mankind . . . but I'll never give in to it.
Researchers are saying that stay at home workers decrease traffic jams in cities, and that will save the country billions of gallons of gasoline and carbon emissions. That's a good thing. I think distance education is a shoddy way of getting a diploma. I like the old way best, the one where if you want a college degree, you go to a real college campus, sit in classrooms taught by real professors, and do the good old college student thing. But that's not possible for everyone. Doing that causes great inconveniences, is overly expensive, and it may not insure you of a quality education. For one thing, a quality education is pretty much a thing of the past. Nobody in this day and age expects a college graduate to know as much as those who went through college twenty years ago, much less fifty years ago. But more people have college degrees now, and that feeds the growing demand for employees who are promotable.
Old ways are to be held up as a standard in some respects, but they are no longer practical. Todays high school graduate, that budding college kid, is to some degree retarded by modern technology. Asking one of them to actually think is asking the impossible because they now carry their brains in their pocket in the form of some sort of electronic gizmo. As much as I detest that, it's the present and the future. If you can't keep up with developing technology, you end up functionally crippled. Old ways just don't fit the new world, and I can accept that.
I've got a cell phone in my pocket, but it just works to make calls. I don't text, don't use it to work the internet or anything like that. I've got computers, but I don't market anything, nor do I intend to. My wife does, but that's her thing. My thing is clinging to more fundamental things, doing it the hard way, the slow way . . . and by using my brain . . . you know, the one in your head. But I live in two worlds, and that can get confusing.
"We need a credit card, sir," the clerk says.
"But I don't have credit cards. I pay cash," I say, and get this stupid look in return. It's that dead-eyed,
slack-jawed look you get these days when dealing with people.
Lodging establishments and car rental places, for instance, won't reserve a room for you without a credit card number. That's an inconvenience to an old timer like me. No sweat 'cause I don't travel much and I never rent cars. If I don't have the money on me, I don't buy some things only a card can get you. My life is no worse off without them. I'm forced into some compromise with the new technologies available, those things that make life more convenient on the one hand and more obnoxious on the other. I'll compromise some, even admit that some of the changes for for the good of mankind . . . but I'll never give in to it.
Monday, April 28, 2014
TECHNOLOGY WILL EVENTUALLY KILL US
. . . and it might not take as long as you might think. Nope, the wheels of time are spinning more rapidly than ever now, and with each turn of the wheel, we get less relevant, less useful, less of a factor. No way, you say? We still hold the reins because we're the inventors, the makers of al this wonderful technology. Think of it this way, if it makes more sense to you. We invented the car, the gun, the airplane, the bomb, and all kinds of things that were supposed to be solutions. If we could travel about, we could get more done. And we do get more done with cars and airplanes, but we pay a big price for it. Cars have killed more people than all the wars we've fought, and for the sake of convenience. Inventions of destruction like bombs and tanks and such? Well, that's easy to figure out. These things in one way or another have made life better for most of us, but they've also put an end to lots of us too.
And then there's the computer and other electronic gizmos that now dominate our lifestyles. What are they doing to us? Schools are giving up, no longer try to teach kids to write. The average product of our school system now can write very little because he has no need for it. All they need to know is how to peck out words on some keyboard. They don't read well, especially if they're required to read from a written page. It's all digitalized now, and even though that invention has made us better in lots of ways, it has also killed off something no computer can ever replace - a human being who capable of critical thinking. Watching television or staring at a computer screen doesn't take much brain power, especially when the gizmo you're using does all the work for you. The time is coming when actual hand held magazines, newspapers, and books will be a thing of the past. Fifty years from now, perhaps sooner, nobody will be reading books in book form. And whether or not you want to see it as a death sentence, it is. Oh, we'll continue living as blobs of living matter that can research almost anything in the blink of an eye, or the flick of a finger, but we'll be cripples . . . thought deprived cripples. Alive, yes, but brain dead for all practical purposes.
This has been happening at a rather slow pace for some time, but modern technology has even made time less relevant. It takes much less time these days to do most things than it did just ten years ago. Compare that to a century ago, and the differences are staggering. The amount of information known to man increases at a fast rate now. When I was born, it took something like 30 years for the amount of information known to us to double. Now it doubles much faster, so fast, in fact, that it's impossible for a human being to keep up with it. We're not smart enough to absorb all the information that bombards us constantly, but there's no need to worry about it. The machines know, and if we need to know, then we can ask them. Just punch a button or two, and they'll tell us. So, do you think you're still as relevant as were your parents or grandparents? Not hardly.
And then there's the computer and other electronic gizmos that now dominate our lifestyles. What are they doing to us? Schools are giving up, no longer try to teach kids to write. The average product of our school system now can write very little because he has no need for it. All they need to know is how to peck out words on some keyboard. They don't read well, especially if they're required to read from a written page. It's all digitalized now, and even though that invention has made us better in lots of ways, it has also killed off something no computer can ever replace - a human being who capable of critical thinking. Watching television or staring at a computer screen doesn't take much brain power, especially when the gizmo you're using does all the work for you. The time is coming when actual hand held magazines, newspapers, and books will be a thing of the past. Fifty years from now, perhaps sooner, nobody will be reading books in book form. And whether or not you want to see it as a death sentence, it is. Oh, we'll continue living as blobs of living matter that can research almost anything in the blink of an eye, or the flick of a finger, but we'll be cripples . . . thought deprived cripples. Alive, yes, but brain dead for all practical purposes.
This has been happening at a rather slow pace for some time, but modern technology has even made time less relevant. It takes much less time these days to do most things than it did just ten years ago. Compare that to a century ago, and the differences are staggering. The amount of information known to man increases at a fast rate now. When I was born, it took something like 30 years for the amount of information known to us to double. Now it doubles much faster, so fast, in fact, that it's impossible for a human being to keep up with it. We're not smart enough to absorb all the information that bombards us constantly, but there's no need to worry about it. The machines know, and if we need to know, then we can ask them. Just punch a button or two, and they'll tell us. So, do you think you're still as relevant as were your parents or grandparents? Not hardly.
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
TAKING A BITE OUT OF APPLE
I just took a bit out of Apple and came up with an I-Mac. At this point, I'm not sure Apple didn't take a big bite out of me . . . and come out of it on top. For one thing, I've got some pieces missing now, especially out of my bank account. When I went shopping for a new desktop a few days ago, I found the cupboard bare . . . or almost bare. "So, where's the desktops?" I asked. "Er, well, they're right there," the guy a Best Buy said. I looked and only saw three desktops - HP, Gateway, and some name I'd never heard of. "Desktops are on the way out," the guy says. "Want to look at a notebook?" I shook my head and headed for the front door, and that's when I passed the Apple section. Hold on! That thing looks almost like a real computer. After about 30 minutes discussion with a salesperson, a very informative young lady, I bought it . . . a new I-Mac.
Ok, so all's well at the home camp. Shitty old computers out, fancy new Mac in. Then reality sets in. Someone like me owning a fancy high tech machine like my new I-Mac is somewhat akin to giving a corvette to a monkey. I can jump up and down on it, lovingly admire it, sit and piddle with it . . . but I can't drive it. That's gonna take a while, partly 'cause I don't know a thing about Apple computers, and partly 'cause I'm a techno retard. I feel like a dump truck driver who just joined the country club. I'm not afraid to hang out with just about anybody, but I can't read this country club menu. I don't play golf, and I'm no good at sipping booze from a glass with a long stem. Put plainly, this new machine might be out of my class.
And then I go to dinner, being as how Best Buy is close to a Golden Corral, and that's where I get some hope. Sitting outside the restaurant is a kid wearing baggy pants, maybe twelve years old, and looking pretty grubby . . . and he's holding a fancy Apple I-phone, apparently playing games on it 'cause he's plenty amused. That does it. If that kid can make something like that work, then so can I. I'm not about to be outdone by a seventh grader.
And now, I'm on day three at home alone with my new I-Mac, and I'm fighting off the impulse to go across the street and inviting over a seventh grader. He's a smart kid, and I'm sure he'll have this thing ready to roll in no time at all. The only thing holding me back is pride, but I'll probably break down and ask for help. It's either the kid across the street, or my wife . . . and damn, I sure do hate to ask her to do everything for me when it comes to computers. I'll wait until she's gone for a while, invite the kid over, and then act like I figured it all out on my own when she gets home. You see, I'm not so dumb after all.
Ok, so all's well at the home camp. Shitty old computers out, fancy new Mac in. Then reality sets in. Someone like me owning a fancy high tech machine like my new I-Mac is somewhat akin to giving a corvette to a monkey. I can jump up and down on it, lovingly admire it, sit and piddle with it . . . but I can't drive it. That's gonna take a while, partly 'cause I don't know a thing about Apple computers, and partly 'cause I'm a techno retard. I feel like a dump truck driver who just joined the country club. I'm not afraid to hang out with just about anybody, but I can't read this country club menu. I don't play golf, and I'm no good at sipping booze from a glass with a long stem. Put plainly, this new machine might be out of my class.
And then I go to dinner, being as how Best Buy is close to a Golden Corral, and that's where I get some hope. Sitting outside the restaurant is a kid wearing baggy pants, maybe twelve years old, and looking pretty grubby . . . and he's holding a fancy Apple I-phone, apparently playing games on it 'cause he's plenty amused. That does it. If that kid can make something like that work, then so can I. I'm not about to be outdone by a seventh grader.
And now, I'm on day three at home alone with my new I-Mac, and I'm fighting off the impulse to go across the street and inviting over a seventh grader. He's a smart kid, and I'm sure he'll have this thing ready to roll in no time at all. The only thing holding me back is pride, but I'll probably break down and ask for help. It's either the kid across the street, or my wife . . . and damn, I sure do hate to ask her to do everything for me when it comes to computers. I'll wait until she's gone for a while, invite the kid over, and then act like I figured it all out on my own when she gets home. You see, I'm not so dumb after all.
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