Are We Becoming Too Dependent on Technology?

[SteamKing]

It was never ordinary at any point in human history to walk 30 miles a day, not even for the Roman army.

On a regular march, a Roman legion would travel about ten miles between camps. However, before the march started, their overnight camp had to be struck, and when the march concluded, the new camp had to be set up, by pitching tents, building fortifications, etc.

 

[edward]

Is it just me or is having video touch screens in cars just as dangerous as texting while driving? I want to keep my knobs. The big two control the A/C the small two are for the radio.

 

[tfr000]

So there is a car repair shop about 1/4 mile from my work place. I drop off my vehicle there and walk to work every once in a while. It's a pleasant walk along some little-used railroad tracks and past an old farm. Some people are literally aghast at this... "WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK FOR A RIDE??!" Oh the horror...

 

[jhae2.718]

Is it just me or is having video touch screens in cars just as dangerous as texting while driving? I want to keep my knobs. The big two control the A/C the small two are for the radio.

That depends on how well they do the human factors. I'd argue that touchscreens are probably not a good choice for a variety of reasons: you need to look at the display, there's no haptic feedback, etc.

Personally, I'd like to see more Heads-Up Displays in cars, so you can see the information you need while still looking at the road.

 

[zoobyshoe]

But it does happen albeit not ordinary.

It's humanly possible, sure. I don't dispute that.

 

[tfr000]

As for kitchen gadgets... food processors and so on... most of them are probably pretty useful if you have a lot to do, like in a restaurant kitchen. At home, a knife works just fine, and is easier to clean.
I find the same to be true of woodworking tools. It's easier to just use a hand saw than to set up a big, noisy powerful machine to make one cut.
The problem happens when we think that we can't do whatever needs doing because we don't have {latest gadget X}, and then the power goes out.

 

[jim hardy]

It's all relative.
I remember when my grandparents first got electricity probably ca 1953.
Grandpa brought home a brand new electric range, he and Dad hooked it up. Next morning Grandma threw a fit when her biscuits came out of the new oven burnt to a crisp. She immediately stoked the wood stove and in about forty minutes we had a new batch of biscuits with bacon and eggs. For thirty more years that electric stove was just storage for her kindling wood and cast iron pots&pans. In summers my sister and I grew up on Grandma's wood-cooked meals.

Must be in the chromosomes - to this day all my outboards have magneto ignition, and i keep a slide rule and rotary dial phone handy.

I think we tend to stick with what was imprinted on us in formative years.

 

[crownedbishop]

My personal opinion is that we shouldn't be dependent upon technology to think for us. Good technology, on the other hand, makes life easier for us. For example, a dishwasher gives us more time to do other stuff. Or a program let's me calculate gigantic matrices. The problem is that technology isn't any smarter than the person who made it. You would have no idea of the amount of people in my high school who couldn't do basic algebra without a calculator. Or the people who freak out because they don't know where their phone is, and they have to check their phone. That's the bad part of technology. When the technology is controlling you, you know that you did something wrong.

 

[Polus]

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

 

[Chronos]

See - A Clockwork Orange. I worry about the intrusiveness of modern technology. It still looks innocent, but, in fifty years, I fear it will become big brother. A camera on every street corner, drones over the countryside, and spy implants on 'reformed' prison inmates.

 

[AlephZero]

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

Nuclear weapons are abundant, and stable if they are stored correctly. As you say, what's to fear about abundant and stable technology?

 

[Polus]

Nuclear weapons are abundant, and stable if they are stored correctly. As you say, what's to fear about abundant and stable technology?

Lol. When did the conversation switch to weapons of mass destruction? Read what I said in the context of the thread.

 

[SteamKing]

OK, how about this? The serial killer had an impressive collection of knives and other edged weapons at his disposal.

 

[Jozape]

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

If we encounter a shortage of resources, especially energy, we could have problems maintaining our current level of dependence. I am optimistic about the future of energy though.

 

[russ_watters]

Nuclear weapons are abundant, and stable if they are stored correctly. As you say, what's to fear about abundant and stable technology?

...and since their introduction, the world has become orders of magnitude more peaceful!

 

[lostcauses10x]

I see a mention of A/C, and steel or iron plows.
Yet the dependence today of the technology is transportation of food and materials: Heavy equipment used in farming: and one thing I have not seen is refrigeration.
Both are the reason the population of the world today can exist at all.

 

[zoobyshoe]

...and since their introduction, the world has become orders of magnitude more peaceful!

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.

The bomb is, in fact, the greatest threat to modern technology. Strategic EMP's are about the only thing that could rob us of all electronics and leave us otherwise intact to suddenly fend for ourselves without them.
http://www.wnd.com/2011/11/370917/

 

[lendav_rott]

If they decide to nuke the damn thing, whatever, let them go for it, but until then no one has to care... I certainly don't sleep as well as I do by constantly thinking about bombs and warfare and what ever else xD Ignorance is bliss, as they say.

 

[leroyjenkens]

I used to have a database in my head of many different phone numbers. Now I only know my own phone number.

 

[Evo]

Two days ago I was at the store and the clerk asked me for my pin number, my mind went blank. I had to cancel the transaction. Completely forgot it, finally today I found where I had it written down, thankfully. It's my debit card pin, used it 1-2 times a week for the last few years.

 

[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.