Are We Becoming Too Dependent on Technology?

[jim hardy]

Can you just ask them to run it as a credit instead? I don't know for sure, but i THINK there's credit card limits of liability for credit transactions that aren't there for debit.

Any banker types here who know for sure?

 

[Evo]

Can you just ask them to run it as a credit instead? I don't know for sure, but i THINK there's credit card limits of liability for credit transactions that aren't there for debit.

Any banker types here who know for sure?

It was a refund, so I couldn't, they ended up just giving me cash. It was nice of them to do the cash instead of going by the book.

Funny I had just seen an explanation of this kind of mind blanking of a common thing like a pin number just last week on the brain games show on Nat Geo.

 

[jim hardy]

...
Funny I had just seen an explanation of this kind of mind blanking of a common thing like a pin number just last week on the brain games show on Nat Geo.

Wish i'd seen that one.

I digress, but..

have i posted this link before?



I think we are over-stimulated. I notice increasing delay when trying to context-switch.
When reading a book, I have to stay away from the computer until it's finished. Won't consider a kindle... it would be toxic for me.

 

[crownedbishop]

As long as technology is abundant and stable, what is there to fear?

Chronos mentioned A Clockwise Orange. We should probably be somewhere in between using no technology and completely depending on it. I advocate neither. We usually need to think about how the technology works to improve it, instead of treating it like magic. Debit card is another good example. Luckily, I haven't forgotten my debit pin yet. Mine's 7 digits long.

 

[gravenewworld]

Yes, I believe it is possible that technology can make people dumber. All I have to do is talk to the plethora of undergrads incapable of reading a map or getting around in a foreign city (because they have no cell phone service and therefore no access to google maps when abroad).

It's also hilarious how my undergrads seem incapable of communicating verbally or face to face with another human being. Phone call? Good god, they might have to actually talk to another human being over a phone? It's why I have to almost always handle the communication for our supply orders and talk to vendors over the phone whenever an assay isn't working. Younger students these days almost never talk to anyone over the phone. If they can't order it on Amazon or find a fix via a chat with an online operator, they don't want to deal with it. If you are a supplier, you'd could trample all over these people that are too afraid to demand accurate and proper service through stern conversations over a phone. I had to literally cuss out our field rep over the phone over our broken rheometer (which was under contract). If I didn't do it, I think it would still be broken 4 months later and things would never get done in lab.

 

[Czcibor]

Between 1945 and 2000 51million died in war.
http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=287
Between 1886 and 1945 122million died in war.
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/massacre.html
The difference is not even one order of magnitude. It's about 2.39 times "more peaceful" at best.

Maybe you should make some adjustment for number of people living on Earth?

1900 - 1,650
1950 - 2,519
2010 - 6,972

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population#Population_growth_by_region

Roughly counting the world population tripped in the mean time. (So more in line 6 or 7 times more peaceful)

According to "The better angels of our nature" there are much more factors involved in becoming more peaceful, however dramatic decreasing number war deaths after adjusting for number of people is clearly visible.