jasperkent
Bluelighter
Not sure if this is the best section or even the correct forum for this, so mods feel free to move it wherever if you see fit.
The other day I was thinking about how grateful I am to have so much knowledge available to me within arm's reach and in a matter of seconds.
I remember when I was young and would have a question about something I'd hope to find it in the encyclopedia (a set of books that took up two shelves). Often I wouldn't find a satisfactory answer, so I'd jot down a note to take with me the next time i visited the Public Library. That system worked, but it was time-consuming and inconvenient. And if you're having a drunken argument in a bar at midnight over who was the 29th US President (Warren G. Harding, R), the only way to settle it was with fisticuffs.
So I embrace the technology, but then I started thinking people who grow up with this don't really have to learn & remember anything! But then I recalled that some math teachers were sounding a similar alarm back when pocket calculators became prevalent. As far as I know, people can still fo simple math. I realize that Terrence Howard has convinced himself that 1×1=2, but I'm pretty sure he's a special case. Anyway, facts rarely stand alone. Each exists in a context of place, time, culture, etc.
Humans are naturally suspicious of new things and we tend to view the past as better than it really was. Some Americans think our country was "great" back in the 1950s (or 1850s), but of course that's only partly true and only for certain people.
Apparently, suspicion of new technology is nothing new:
The other day I was thinking about how grateful I am to have so much knowledge available to me within arm's reach and in a matter of seconds.
I remember when I was young and would have a question about something I'd hope to find it in the encyclopedia (a set of books that took up two shelves). Often I wouldn't find a satisfactory answer, so I'd jot down a note to take with me the next time i visited the Public Library. That system worked, but it was time-consuming and inconvenient. And if you're having a drunken argument in a bar at midnight over who was the 29th US President (Warren G. Harding, R), the only way to settle it was with fisticuffs.
So I embrace the technology, but then I started thinking people who grow up with this don't really have to learn & remember anything! But then I recalled that some math teachers were sounding a similar alarm back when pocket calculators became prevalent. As far as I know, people can still fo simple math. I realize that Terrence Howard has convinced himself that 1×1=2, but I'm pretty sure he's a special case. Anyway, facts rarely stand alone. Each exists in a context of place, time, culture, etc.
Humans are naturally suspicious of new things and we tend to view the past as better than it really was. Some Americans think our country was "great" back in the 1950s (or 1850s), but of course that's only partly true and only for certain people.
Apparently, suspicion of new technology is nothing new:
Socrates on the Forgetfulness that Comes with Writing - New Learning Online
newlearningonline.com
