[larrydallas]

I'm 26 so I did not live all of my life in an information age where info was cheap and everyone had internet access at home or a public place if they so desired.

What kind of information do people get with computers, databases, etc??

Many types but few if any significant number (present compnay withstanding) get information on real survival skills when there is no comfortable life which is provided by oil and natural gas.

I an inclined to think we are only getting "softer" as people as time progresses because we kind of fool ourselves into thinking this artificial man made condition of consumerism and being able to buy what you want if you have enough money will keep on lasting fo good.

My grandfather knew how to raise, slaughter, and clean farm animals.
My dad knew how to repair stuff in automobiles and homes with minimal use of new parts.
I know how to repair the same but I tend to want to use new parts so I don't have to do it again.

It's incremental but you can see where I'm going with this and how a paradigm is shifting.

I worry a lot about the current gen that has been around the information age for life. You can call it being a computer cripple in simpler terms.

Most of this info age stuff is made possible only because we have the luxury of time and having our basic needs met to be able to dabble in other interests.

I like many people do not know how to grow my own food or know exactly where the food I buy comes from. This is so scary to really think about. Most stores have about a 3 day supply of goods. That stuff is coming from somewhere and it is all based on someone doing that job to make it all occur.

The specialization of each person in a line of work has made it possible for me to do my job and not worry about how grain is grown but YIKES when you factor in peak oil.

Just think about how fragile this system of interdependence is. The info age acts as blinders to people (again present compnay withstanding) with bad eyes.

[NevadaGhosts]

Hi Larry. Haven't seen you post in quite a while.

Technology has made many people softer, lazier, and dumber. Why think when a machine can think for you? Why worry how food is grown when you can go easily down to the store and buy it off of the shelves? Most people today couldn't survive in the wilderness if their lives depended on it. Common sense seems to be in short supply these days. Modern societies protect weak and stupid people that would have been killed off in past societies.

[gg3]

Right. Weak people like Stephen Hawking, who after all needs a wheelchair and various assistive technologies in order to present and publish his physics papers and lectures. The guy is the Einstien of our times but hey, we can't let that stop the social darwinist pogrom, can we?

Computers and the internet aren't making us lazier any more than the telephone did when it was newly becoming universal. What makes us lazy is the consumer culture of ever-increasing convenience, the proliferation of energy-consuming devices replacing muscles in greater number, and the proliferation of sheer consumer garbage whose real role in life is to harvest money from idiots.

For example at the consumer electronics show currently going on in Hanover Germany, Adidas (sp?) is showing a pair of sneakers that have motors, powered cable-tensioning devices, and microprocessors built into the bottoms of them. In my opinion such wasteful crap should be illegal, as in, forbidden to produce.

[Aaron]

I had some similar thoughts.

As information technology has become more widespread and useful, I feel like it's making me less capable.

For example, I don't know anybodies phone number anymore.

I can remember my parents phone number from decades ago, but have no idea about recent numbers. Why? Because my cell phone does that. For years now, my cell remembers that info, and I just push a button labeled mom or office or whatever.

I don't need to remember your email address... my computer maps that to a name for me.

Math - Please...

Memorize HTML tags? Pfft... I just push a cute little button.

And the list goes on & on...

What's next? I push a single button and my life is downloaded to me in a single burst of programmed experiences?

If this keeps up, pretty soon my only remaining knowledge skill will be how to use info services with no grip on the info itself.

[Jack]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'R')ight. Weak people like Stephen Hawking, who after all needs a wheelchair and various assistive technologies in order to present and publish his physics papers and lectures. The guy is the Einstien of our times but hey, we can't let that stop the social darwinist pogrom, can we?