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Heroes Community > Other Side of the Monitor > Thread: My Old Fear of Technology
Thread: My Old Fear of Technology This thread is 3 pages long: 1 2 3 · NEXT»
markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted December 19, 2012 02:27 PM

My Old Fear of Technology


After reading some conversation about the school shooting in the guns-thread; I remembered a thought (a fear also) I had a while back and that I had put something down in words. I remember the last straw for me then was a story about a tragic bus-accident in Africa(or some other place), iirc. that killed 20-30 children. I had risen that morning in a very good mood but not now, I was upset about something awful that happened on a very distant mud road and near a far-away town that I didn't know existed...till the bad news.


I felt very strongly about the tech-bit back then and still do a little. What good is it to have horrible events far beyond our control, fed to us every morning at breakfast? That is, if we sit down to the news table to start the day. I quit. I don't need to know all the world-list of horrible events that happened yesterday or see the "Live-coverage" with my wheaties.

After re-reading my old writing I think I got it pretty accurate except for the Virtual Reality part. I'm very surpised it is not more embedded in gaming etc. (my Son and I had a great fun running from dragons...I was snatched) Although an argument can be made that the bad news harvested from every spot on earth and instantly delivered to my daily emotions is not without effect.

*********************************************************

Technology Friend or Foe?

    A most dangerous public enemy is loose among us. This monster has started an experiment that is out of control. No one knows when we'll reach the point of no return.
    Technology has no mind or heart as it rages out of control. Without a leash on this giant, the effects on society are unknown. There have been wonderful breakthroughs for our benefit.  However, we are blind to the serious consequences that loom ahead for Mankind.
    In the race to increase profit, we are replacing ourselves with robots, lasers, computers and artificial intelligence. We have to interact with inanimate objects at a growing pace, while watching friends lose their jobs.
     I remember the old fashioned service station.  Four to five humans were common at the mom and pop operations. It was a normal occurrence to know everyone that worked there and when you interact with people, you have an opportunity to make friends, etc. Now it is possible to use a card, buy gas and never see a living soul. Usually there is one person now, "an Assistant Manager" and you must serve yourself. "Service Station" is an outdated phrase. Today "Self Service Station" is more accurate.                                                                                              
    Have you been to an AUTOMATED TELLER LATELY? There again, you interact with pushbuttons and a screen with questions. If you can take an A.T.M. on a date, read no further. I'm sure in the past, a teller became a spouse or a friend because of interaction. In the future you will to go to the bank (or SUPER TURBO A.T.M.) and find one person, (the bank President) working like the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain. Exit eight tellers, enter one technician.
    In calling, you have to be aware that companies have computer voices answering their incoming calls. You can still talk to a person, but you have to push the right button. Computers now make house calls for selling or surveys. Again, you are reduced to a button communicator. It's not hard to imagine in the future, live human voices will be lost to this field of automation.
    We live in an age of apathy and indifference. People are less sensitive to others. Technology is not the sole reason, but the computer age is bringing about obvious change in the human condition. We are bombarded with high-tech media about   events that are disturbing, yet beyond our control. Thousands of jobs from yesterday are disappearing, replaced by hundreds of jobs of the new age. Security has left as most of us live in fear of the next cutback or merger. Families are uprooted constantly in following careers or pressurized in pursuit of a livelihood after a twenty-year job vanishes.
    Take in a movie and you will find the entertainment world has transformed to high-tech communication. The focus has switched to special effects as in Jurassic Park or Terminator II. Virtual Reality is the new field of exploration in Hollywood. Anticipate confusion in the future, as this becomes reality in our lives and not used only in Tinsel Town.
    Many children today have difficulty interacting with others. Often these same kids will be video game wizards. When kids replace playing in the yard with playing with electronics, they are at risk of not learning to develop interaction skills with other children. Parents have no idea how the Techno world may affect their youngsters. Their world is full of machines, robots, and computers. The high-tech media blasts them daily with evidence of a world gone mad.
    In the 1990's, we are the "Pavlov's dogs" of the electronic age. Watch, as we continue to become more robotic with our emotions, apathetic with our monitors, introverted with computer interaction and detached in our world of virtual reality.
     It is interesting how the government attempts to dictate individual freedoms, but cares not about controlling the electronic experiment that alters our society forever.  In the future "hand made" might mean, "Back in my time, we had to push buttons, you couldn't just think it up, like now".  

Markkur
1990

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GunFred
GunFred


Supreme Hero
Sexy Manticore
posted December 19, 2012 05:22 PM

Your fear is definitly not irrational and I can understand that a world without human warmth can seem depressing and even a bit doomsday-ish. But I think there is no point in resisting the future technology. We should embrace it and use it to make things easier for us so that we can enjoy life more as we always have. Infrastructure will become so much easier in the future than it already has.

I think that new technology can be seen as a result of evolution and we we do not fear our own offspring do we? Life is not much more than sophisticated biological machines anyway so maybe one day we will be able to create mechanical undying lifeforms.

I am starting to dive into a deep subject and I am not that confident in my swimming skill metaphorically speaking so I better stop writing. As long as we do not program machines to eradicate humanity, we should be fine.
____________

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Seraphim
Seraphim


Supreme Hero
Knowledge Reaper
posted December 19, 2012 05:31 PM
Edited by Seraphim at 17:57, 19 Dec 2012.

Listen, dont tell me we live in an age of apathy when in fact humans have been ruthless and apathetic since forever.

Remember all the guys who were immolated publically, hung publically, disemboweled publically. By what the great monarchs and religious leaders did in the past, our standards have risen dramatically.

Also, you dont have to listen to that type of BS in the news everyday. i dont watch TV forexample and I am a much more peaceful person. When I want to see news, I see and watch news what I want. I dont care if a gunman or a murderous snow went on a rampage on a school. I let those in charge care about that.
Another example, I disabled Youtube comments when watching youtube, disabled youtube thumbnnails. Why? I dont want to watch things I dont like. At least in My PC, I can control what I see.
The higher quality of life you have, the more control you have and vice versa.


if there is anything that made our lives better in our forsaken existence as cruel animals, its technology.

It was not politicians, religious people or some magic that gave us antibiotics, but science. Same goes for cars, bicycles, electricity, water and so on.

In other words, you are a fear mongerer. Things like that in the US happen everyday all around the world. It is up to the community and the state to help each other and report maniacs from destroying lives.

And as for technology. Machines in general are more efficient than humans. You see some computerized voice answering your calls because it does the job better and it removes a tedious and very unattractive job from the world.
Sure, jobs are lost in the process but it is not hard to see that our "Growth" based economy has some serious flaws in it.
It is not bad that such jobs are gone.
Its just that our current economic system is kinda flawed.

Just to inform you, I grew up playing games.I played Deus Ex at the age of 7. Some games were not only fun but also educative, Deus Ex being one of them.
I never went outside to play any sports as a child(No I was not obese), on the street and so on.
I can tell you precisely what effects it could have to grow up the way I did. But believe me, its much better to play a video game than go out and play in a street and become a monster.


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GunFred
GunFred


Supreme Hero
Sexy Manticore
posted December 19, 2012 05:56 PM

Quote:
Listen, dont tell me we live in an age of apathy when in fact humans have been ruthless and apathetic since forever.

Remember all the guys who were immolated publically, hung publically, disemboweled publically. By what the great monarchs and religious leaders did in the past, our standards have risen dramatically.

if there is anything that made our lives better in our forsaken existence as cruel animals, its technology.

It was not politicians, religious people or some magic that gave us antibiotics, but science. Same goes for cars, bicycles, electricity, water and so on.

Sure, jobs are lost in the process but it is not hard to see that our "Growth" based economy has some serious flaws in it.
It is not bad that such jobs are gone.
Its just that our current economic system is kinda flawed.


This is all very true.

Quote:
In other words, you are a fear mongerer.

I would not go this far. It is natural to fear the unknown and change. We just have to be brave and conquer our fears when the time comes to face our fears.
____________

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Seraphim
Seraphim


Supreme Hero
Knowledge Reaper
posted December 19, 2012 06:06 PM
Edited by Seraphim at 18:19, 19 Dec 2012.

Quote:
In other words, you are a fear mongerer.

I would not go this far. It is natural to fear the unknown and change. We just have to be brave and conquer our fears when the time comes to face our fears.


Humans are by definition foul. Dont expect people or the majority to reach a consensus and say "We will not fear CHANGE or technology".

People reach a conclusion the fastest way possible because
"A conclusion is the place where you get tired of thinking".
Ignorance persists.
In other words, people dont like to think and love to stay ignorant.

With WE you cant mean the population or people. Only with widespread education can change be done or by force IMO and that may take decades or centuries.
Markur is the perfect example of somebody who fears something without, imo, understanding the real problem behind the thing he/she sees.
When I said "Fear mongerer", I meant it non offensively. As much non offensively that could be understood.

In one thing he is right, some aspects of technology have indeed contributed to negative things though. People misusing the internet is one example but that will change. Once the internet becomes more and more controlled, it will become a more serious medium. Currently, its like a western where every evil guy imaginable screams at the same time. That is why I also like the Idea of a controlled internet. Its been so loose and the source of criminal activity or content has soared over the years.
Without control, there is no intellectual decency.

Indeed, the quality of life and social moral has declined over the years compared to a few decades before but I dont know whether that is a fact or a symptom of everything being more connected and more available over the internet.
However, if the internet becomes more controlled, this will not matter.
____________
"Science is not fun without cyanide"

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markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted December 19, 2012 09:11 PM
Edited by markkur at 21:12, 19 Dec 2012.

Quote:
Markur is the perfect example of somebody who fears something without, imo, understanding the real problem behind the thing he/she sees.


I've seen the results for twenty years plus and since I have six grandchildren I owe to to them to be a grandfather that asks questions.

Just one reply' about the mongering...totally wrong. It's about "questioning" and after witnessing the news blitz and witnessing people get very upset without being able to do a darn thing about it, my questions are as relevant now as they were then.

Why bother reading my thoughts or opines? Your superior attitude leaves no room for discussion.

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OhforfSake
OhforfSake


Promising
Legendary Hero
Initiate
posted December 19, 2012 09:49 PM

Thanks for sharing.
Pretty incredible you wrote that already in 1990. Then again, I have little clue of how the world looked like before the 90's.

What's labeled as technology in the OP, I would label possible consequences of technology.

With technology, higher flow of information can follow, and it has. This is good and bad. But it comes down to you, not the rate of information flow itself. It's about to be able to distinguish between what's important for you to be updated about. Like stated, you do not want to hear about horrible situations out of your control. Neither do I. Therefore, I typically rejects places where I expect to find this information.

It's however important to note the obvious, that these accidents to happen all the time. Everyday, something tragic happens, in a much higher rate than the media can manage to report. There's currently nothing you, or I, can do about it. That's why it make little sense to let oneself be influenced by it. That's how I find myself being able to be happy despite the gruesomeness this world brings (though I believe it's improved vastly just the last 200 years).


Another consequence looked at is replaced man with machines, increasing the profit of a few and make a lot stand without a job.
Here, however, I'd like to wonder, what's the point of money in the first place? I believe it's the ability to trade freely independent of profession. You don't have to have an item the seller needs to buy his item, because the seller can use the money to buy what he needs elsewhere.

The most basic items, or goods, required are those which are required for maintaining life. Among these are food. Which goes under the topic of 'Security'. However there's also a requirement of leisure, of control, of challenge, all of which goes under the topic of 'Freedom'.

In fact, all what you ever want can be put under the topics of 'Security and Freedom'. In principle it could be put under the topic of 'Freedom' alone as well, but never mind that.

So the main reason for making profit is so you have your 'Freedom and Security', which basically means being able to do what you want and maintain proper health.
However if machines replaces every human functions, especially those labeled 'Security' such as say Food, Hospitals, Maintenance, Spillage, etc., and if machines were built so they could be self-supported in the same way a human is, e.g. by growing food and eating it just like the human is able to grow more food and eat it, and have extra energy to also do other functions, then the reason for money (and thereby profit) disappears as everyone can get their needs fulfilled (though not right away obviously).

So the main concern of lack of freedom and security is due to lack of money is countered by that freedom and security will increase independent of ones wealth.


One more consequence is the lack of interaction. When I was much younger than now, I did not value interaction. I do now for several reasons, one is that I try to love everyone, secondly is that even interacting with people you don't find interesting will make it easier for you to interact with people you do find interesting.
It's the second reason I'd like to look at. After having isolated myself for years, I found that the slightest interaction with any girl, would make me put her on a pedestal, almost ready to marry her. On the other hand, after getting back into society, interacting a lot, I find the common interaction to not be a major part of my life to the degree I want to invest fully in any single person, despise how little I know them.

And that's a major point. Someone who's interacted very little will find any interaction to be more significant than someone who's interacted a lot. From which follows not only different expectations/outviews, but also leads to easy disappointment, similarly to a couple who gets married after knowing each other for one week and divorced after a year, or so.

However again, this consequence is not the fault of technology itself, but the fault of people deciding it to be like this. Especially when the need of money disappears as everyone can get their needs satisfied, deciding to have a job as those you describe will be a matter of leisure, not a question about getting enough profit. But people generally do not choose to do this.
Likewise it's to be noted that technology, while closing bridges as we choose one path, opens other bridges as well. The increased flow of information is the reason I can read your thoughts from 1990 and reply to them. Maybe the baker and his wife across the street have left, and it's obviously not the same to communicate like this, but as technology evolves, so does the appearance of communication, which will eventually be inseparable from actual communication, solving the problem.

Again it's not as much a problem with technology as it's the fact that technology can be used for bad (like weapons of mass destruction) as well as good (like prolonging life), and since the power is in our hands, it's up to us to make the choice, not just cast blame on our ability.




Finally, I don't think any fear of loss of voice is to be had, considering that sound is much faster information for humans than text is, therefore it's only logical that sound will eventually replace text (and like you suggest, sound will probably be changed to thought, or similar).

Also the reason for having a voice is to communicate, if we can communicate more effective, I personally don't see the loss.
____________
Living time backwards

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JoonasTo
JoonasTo


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
What if Elvin was female?
posted December 19, 2012 10:23 PM

I personally find it unappealing to watch any TV before I'm back from uni/work. I don't have a newspaper order so I usually only read the news from the net after I'm back from uni/work.
As to what comes to apathy about news. If your day is ruined by reading about a few dead kids you have a serious case of hypocrisy on your hands. There are a lot more people dying all the time that the news don't talk about. What's 20 kids to the thousands dying of hunger/disease/overweight/traffic? If it is just the concious knowledge of the deaths that bother you then you can choose not to watch the news, only read the parts of paper that are of interest to you, etc.

The fact that one can be disturbed over such apathy shows that were actually on road to a better future. Not too long ago - and still a lot of people, though I hopefully wish that not the most of us - were eager to go to war. This seems to be directly linked to the less civilised, also less technologically advanced, parts of the world.

Human interaction has lessened, that can not be denied. On the other hand, individual freedom has increased as a result. This gives more choice for people on how they want to live their lives. Not fitting the social code of the community elders does not mean denial of personal rights. Whether one values the current societal freedom more than the old closer knit community is their own decision to make.

As to what comes to kid spending their time playing games on their own and not with their friends on the yard, these are often the same kids who would have spent their time playing by themselves in the corner of the yard or chasing off after that butterfly into the forest. The kids who would have spent their time on the yard playing with others will spend their time playing the games with their friends too. The electronics are just a different medium for them, just as it is for us.

Technologically I think you were quite right in your predictions but the social implications have not (yet at least) been that dramatic.
EXCEPT, the improved possibilities to communicate and organise. That HAS lead to dramatic changes in our world. Not so much in our western world as in the less technologically advanced parts of the world. The arab world has been turned upside down when the people realised what they were capable of. This can be directly associated with the technologisation of the world.

I believe this quote shows the inner state you were in at the writing. It's an emotional argument with no rational benefit.
Quote:
In the future "hand made" might mean, "Back in my time, we had to push buttons, you couldn't just think it up, like now".

And if we ever get to such a future, I will gloriously embrace it. If machines make better and cheaper products than human hands, there is no reason not to transition to them.
____________
DON'T BE A NOOB, JOIN A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E.

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Seraphim
Seraphim


Supreme Hero
Knowledge Reaper
posted December 19, 2012 11:25 PM


Quote:

Why bother reading my thoughts or opines? Your superior attitude leaves no room for discussion.

If you think so. I did not meant to be agressive but I wont take back anything I said.
That said, I am done here.
____________
"Science is not fun without cyanide"

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mvassilev
mvassilev


Responsible
Undefeatable Hero
posted December 20, 2012 01:07 AM

Technology is great for connecting people. Thanks to Facebook and Skype, you can talk to friends and keep in touch with people even though you live far away. Thanks to reddit and other online communities (such as HC), you can meet people whom you would have otherwise never met - people with whom you have more in common than you do with a random stranger from your town/city. "Back in the day", you could interact with your neighbors, coworkers, and people you met in everyday life - and that's what you were limited to. Don't like them? Too bad, that's whom you're stuck with. The only other option was to be a recluse and not talk to anyone. Now, if you have a certain interest, you can easily find people who share it. Like HoMM? Go to HC. Like thinking about ways in which the world and human interaction could be optimized? Go to LessWrong. Want to look at the best pictures of cute animals? Go to reddit.com/r/aww. There's something for everyone, and that wasn't true in the past.

Even if you live close to the people with whom you want to communicate, technology is still a boon to interaction. Want to set up a date? Use text messaging, it's easier than a phone conversation. Want to get someone a gift and don't want to look for something unfamiliar at the store (or it's something that you can't find locally)? Buy it on Amazon. Want to show you friends something cool you found online? Post a link to it on Facebook.

Technology isn't a substitute for positive human interaction. If you live close to people whose company you genuinely enjoy, electronic interaction isn't going to replace that. Technology even creates new fun forms of positive in-person interaction - for example, LAN parties. The only kind of interaction technology replaces is the kind that wasn't worth much to begin with. Is interacting with tellers really that much fun? I'd rather use an ATM, it's less effort than social interaction with a stranger.

Things weren't that good in the past. In most ways, they were worse.
____________
Eccentric Opinion

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blizzardboy
blizzardboy


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Nerf Herder
posted December 20, 2012 04:36 AM
Edited by blizzardboy at 05:23, 20 Dec 2012.

You just gotta be careful to avoid the harmful addictive habits that can come with electronic social interactions. My spidey senses tell me that the advent of academic literature on obsessive Facebook addiction and such has yet to peak. Online interaction is absurdly easy, which makes it likewise absurdly easy to spend absurd amounts of time on it, in which you yourself didn't even necessarily intend on doing. It also comes with new concerns of privacy, but most of them rests entirely in your own hands. If you don't want your entire life painted on a Facebook page where your "hundreds of friends" (lol) can see it, then either don't make the mistake of agreeing to add every non-interesting douchebag you ever had the sick misfortune of meeting in your life onto your Facebook page for the sake of allegedly being polite (courage is a virtue; cowardice is a vice. Man up, take the limp out your dick until it resembles the mast of a sea-weathered 1700 Spanish Man-O-War, and then hit the damn 'no' button), or use alternative means of talking with your non-fake friends.
____________
"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."

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Zenofex
Zenofex


Responsible
Legendary Hero
Kreegan-atheist
posted December 20, 2012 11:01 AM
Edited by Zenofex at 11:04, 20 Dec 2012.

Heh, a Luddite topic.

I find it funny that people just can't get rid of the feeling that things (some things at least) were better in some previous age, even that everything is inevitably going for the worse. This attitude is probably as old as the ancient civilizations. Too much romantic literature and too little knowledge about history in my opinion.
Markkur, you might want to read Voltaire's "Candide", at least to see a point of view from a few centuries back regarding what the world looks like and how the people just don't want to perceive it as it is (even though that's not exactly the main topic there) - you may find it surprisingly up to date. Because it always is.

As for the technology - no issue with it. The problem's with the humans and their built-in inferiority complex which manifests itself since the earliest pre-civilization forms of superstition but becomes more and more complex with the cultural advance. There has always been some irrational need for an entity which inspires fear and can influence not only your life but the lives of many people, even the world. The thing is that this entity is not dead or mindless - it's personified, or in other words turned into some sort of an abstract human, even if it is completely mysterious otherwise. So you have humans fearing something humanized, so to speak, i.e. something that they invented.
So here's the thing - the technology is one such entity, you seem to consider it - not literally of course - alive and sentient. Like some monstrous ghost which has enslaved humanity and made it fully dependant. But how so? Technology has no face or character, it doesn't have emotions or thoughts, in essence it's just as worthy or being feared as a random rock (which has happened in the past, heh). The almighty Internet is built from machines but not even one of these machines has more personality than your wall. The real AI is still a science fiction. So if you dispose of all the inanimate machines and physical processes, only the people remain and it's actually them who you don't really... trust? So what's new?

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master_learn
master_learn


Legendary Hero
walking to the library
posted December 20, 2012 12:33 PM

From a personal point of view I can see that I have now facebook,skype or other communication channels ,which I could use whenever I try to talk over distance with someone important to me.
In the past I could write a letter of call over pnone.

The better technology nowadays doesnt mean I have improoved my social skills.In fact,been able to talk using such type of connections is like using a substitute for the real talk and I am encouraged to get lazy and less careful about my body language.

I mean where technology increases my social ability to write down and talk with more people,in the same time my ability to talk with a single person effectively decreases.

And I am aware that when I want to talk to a woman whom I see in RL,I feel very hard to do the task,so that she gets good impression from me.
____________
"I heard the latest HD version disables playing Heroes. Please reconsider."-Salamandre

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Salamandre
Salamandre


Admirable
Omnipresent Hero
Wog refugee
posted December 20, 2012 12:47 PM

Maybe because you're obsessed to leave a good impression about you, wherever you are. When we try to hard, there is opposite effect. Moreover, girls prefer bad boys, is a fact.

About technology: I appreciate I can see movies on my computer, that's all. Like Markur I am a bit worried about the extremely deep changes every now and then, because, working with the elites of students, I see their capacities decreasing every year, despite them being connected permanently to some social group or whatever. Call it old school, but I am convinced that exceptional accomplishments require sacrifices and somehow being alone with yourself sometimes. And now everything is so easy, friends are all around, assuming your turn your computer on. Are they?
____________
Era II mods and utilities

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del_diablo
del_diablo


Legendary Hero
Manifest
posted December 20, 2012 04:26 PM

As I get more insight, I get more sceptical to how techology is made and evolved. Its this strange cluster of randomly getting done, with the highest bidder being allowed to take several steps towards whatever it wants.
And at the same time, its actually okay if you use Politics as a contrast.
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markkur
markkur


Honorable
Legendary Hero
Once upon a time
posted December 20, 2012 05:53 PM

Healthy thoughts everyone. I'm not trying to convert anyone to the old school, it's just that I am old school.

The bottom line for me is I am very...uneasy about the rapid change that I've seen in my life. I will not go into that whole bit but while I would never advocate that all things were good in the "good ol' days" <otoh>, <imo> some things are being lost today that were wonderful "way back when." i.e. Real social-interaction.

Oen big problem that I see among the "we of us" is that too many defend their thoughts as if they cannot be wrong. <imo> That's why the OSM seldom has any good arguments. It's not like reading a discussion between two friends that are just trying to overturn a few rocks and take a good look under them; instead it's more like, two-sides of some famous courtroom.

Let me give a better explanation and example, I'll use the Real social-interaction to narrow the scope. I mean real in the sense that it means "physical presence".

As a child I remember the "hawkers" that daily worked my neighborhood streets. These were interesting people from various countries and were very individual characters. Some very cheerful and loved kids, while others, were more like Scrooge and as pleasant as a rash.

The local stores were not Mega-stores on the edge of a town but mom and pop places in neighborhoods with unique environments that a kid had to learn to navigate. Like; "Bruno's", with the big Italian and his strong accent having no impatience with our candy hunts , John's Market with a short and thin old John, wrapped in a white apron standing behind his large wooden candy-counter and grinning ear to ear while we debated the flavors of that trip. Btw, his store was 2 blocks further to walk and every one of the local kids made the extra walk...gladly.

<imo> The more wired-up everyone becomes the more interactions like this (this type is probably already nearly dead) will be lost.




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del_diablo
del_diablo


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Manifest
posted December 20, 2012 07:52 PM

What?
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markkur
markkur


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Once upon a time
posted December 21, 2012 09:06 AM

Sorry about that. I was pulled away before finishing and left it clear a mud. (Btw, the things I will list may not be happening elsehwere)

I gave a few examples of missing social interactions on the OP; gas stations, banks and with the last post I added a detailed bit about "shopping".

You see, much like when plane-crashes are investigated and the experts look for a combination of failures; it's that sort effect regarding what I think I see with kids and their possible social interactions today as they grow up.

1.Alarm clock gets them up.
2.There's no folks working at service stations, Daddy or Mommy pump their own gas.
3. Dadddy or Mommy need some cash? They don't talk to anyone they're off to the money-machine.
4. Stop by the store? Get your stuff, scan it and bag it. No smiling faces, no greetings, just supposed savings. Department stores other than wal-mart are all but dead.
5. Play is far more cerebral now and addicting. It's video games more than outside activites <imo>in too many households. You couldn't keep me in a house now kids have to be blown out of it.
6. Then you take into account that zero job security keeps breadwinners on the move and roots are very hard to put down and seldom is there any grandparents around wherever the young family lives; often no aunts or uncles either.
7. Last but not least, here in the U.S. when it used to be one working parent, too often now, both parents have to work to make ends meet.

I hope things are better for kids in other countries. But here I am concerned about the replacement of livelyhoods by machines and that contribution to these other factors resulting in serious loss of human interaction.

All through my life I've interacted with many people from all walks of life but I don't see how that is possible for kids anymore. It looks to me that it's school and home and machines between.




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blizzardboy
blizzardboy


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posted December 21, 2012 09:22 AM
Edited by blizzardboy at 09:46, 21 Dec 2012.

It's really interesting how we both have concerns for the implications of technology for completely different reasons

I grew up in a part of the country where staff-attended gas pumps are a rarity. When I was living in New England for awhile most of the gas stations still had attendants that pumped your gas, and to be honest, I found it kind of irritating to have to talk to some 16-year-old kid just to fill my gas tank. I even got in the routine of stopping at a particular gas station where I could just do it myself.

I don't think completely automated stores are going to be a reality any time in the conceivable future, if ever, but I really don't see the big deal here either. I mean, coming from somebody that spent some time working in retail in college: those "warm smiles" are only half-real anyway. Trust me: when you check out several hundred people in a night, there are limits to how much you're actually going to give a ****. You simply only have so much emotional energy to go around. 10 seconds to 2 minutes of interaction with some kid or middle aged lady at a register isn't exactly the crowning achievement of fellowship with your fellow man. If anything, going through huge mobs of people decreases the value of our social interactions, because it wears us down. Just think of those massive buildings full of customer support representatives in India. Do you really care a whole lot about Miss Dhamapandakra? 90% of your attention needs to be focused on deciphering what the hell she's saying.

The truth be told, social interactions of that kind of nature on an everyday basis have only been common since post-industrial revolution. Before that, people more often had rarer and yet also longer, more meaningful dialogue when interacting with people. An automated society can flood people with a tyranny of information, but it also serves as an opportunity to give people some much-needed breathing room.
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"Folks, I don't trust children. They're here to replace us."

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del_diablo
del_diablo


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Manifest
posted December 21, 2012 12:15 PM

Quote:
I hope things are better for kids in other countries. But here I am concerned about the replacement of livelyhoods by machines and that contribution to these other factors resulting in serious loss of human interaction.


The problem is that none of these are being replaced by machines because machines make it possible, but they are being replaced because society has changed a lot. A lot of the techology or routines that happens today has techologycal roots back to at the least the 20s.
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