This is so true it's scary....."Google is the new learn" or "Why should I learn anything if I can just Google it?"
http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/strip
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This is so true it's scary....."Google is the new learn" or "Why should I learn anything if I can just Google it?"
http://doonesbury.washingtonpost.com/strip
Not scary at all! Use google to learn it... I do that non stop. Every question no matter how trivial, I google. Then commit it to memory. Having the answer to nearly any question at your finger tips is great. I hear "I've always wondered why ..." so many times. How about taking 5 seconds to use that tiny device with more information on it you can even fathom to find out if you've always wondered.
Combined with the many schoolbooks online. Not having money for college is a poor excuse to not be educated, especially if it's something you like.
I know not all of you have smart phones, I hated them and refused to join for so long. Once I did it was something I regret not doing sooner. Edible plants, traps, mushrooms etc. It's like carrying around a free library in the size of a bar of soap.
Im with Randy, A *LOT* of stuff I do, I can do because of Google! Im not only a Ham but also an electronics hobbyiest.. I can Google about a device or circuit and LEARN about it.
Before there was google, my learning curve was very very slow (Before Internet actually, but same idea). Ive advanced to designing my own circuits, programming embedded micro-controllers and making my own printed circuit boards!
Google is a heck of a great learning tool!
That is all,
EB
Hummmm OK I guess....till the batteries go dead....LOL
That's right! If it's on the internet, it's TRUE!!!
Ever heard of cross referencing?Quote:
Originally Posted by Old GI
The batteries go dead, you can't learn anymore. But You still have what you learned. Books don't last forever either, it's up to you to take the information out of them.
Exactly! Half the stuff I know is from the internet. And a lot of it is better than a book, because some things simply aren't written about as much as i'd like. I have some very unique hobbies. On the internet brand new things, or even old things being studied can be instantly posted about. People can share new things they are trying, and learning right away.Quote:
Originally Posted by ElevenBravo
I went into the library the other day in hopes to find some books on things I liked to occupy me until I get into the new house. I came out with 2 and they were only because I couldn't find anything I was looking for. Back to google.
I'll take google and youtube over a Chilton's manual any day.
I remember talking to my brother in the mid 1990's about platypus and I mentioned that they are venomous. Gary told me I was full of stuff. Because, there were no venomous mammals. I think it took a year and a half or so until I came a cross an article in a magazine. I could have gone to the library or looked an encyclopedia.
But, now a days we can just "google it" on the spot.
Just tap the microphone icon and ask the question.
Heh, heh heh....Ooo...Kay....Don't say I didn't warn y'all........
I not saying the Google isn't good....I'm saying that the attitude now seems to be "I don't need to learn, I'll just Google it".
If you play it right, you can get a full, rounded, education from the Internet. My hobby is continuing education and I've bookmarked a library of opencourseware and online lectures to play with. I'm going through two series of studies - one being a series of survey courses and the other a series of refresher courses for the high school subjects I'm tutoring students in. I'm also putting educational materials on my website so I'm working on a few tutorials to put up after I get enough to make it worth while to put them up. One is a tutorial on observation and recording and I have to do the exercises myself before I write them up to make sure they'll work. In the current one I'm working on, I've developed some exercises that show how to strengthen observational skills using an empty picture frame and toilet paper and paper towel tubes. And I showed how refraction (in the eye) works by showing how to determine the refractive index of water with a protractor and a laser pointer. (As Coyote said, "Anything with a laser is fun."). Next, I'm going to get close and dirty to show how lenses work (since there's two in each eye.)
Frankly, I'm having a ball.
I do not usually read science fiction, but I remember one novel where navigators in deep space used a special drug to enable them to navigate. At one time, computers were used but the computers tried to take control. The law of this fictional future society was "thou shalt not makea machine in the image of a human mind". perhaps a science fiction fan can help me remember the book and author.Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter63
I do remember H G Wells and his story "The Machine Stops". People living underground with all wants and stimulation provided by The Machine. One day.....the machine stops. The story is almost a century old but I need to look it up.
Yeah. I know what you're saying, Hunter, and you're depressingly right.
Falaoga, that sounds like Dune.
That's the problem. Normally functioning humans are challenged and entertained by opportunities to learn. They want and need to survive by their own wits and by the works of their hands but the typical person today has relegated everything that matters - knowledge, responsibility, activity, challenge, relationships - you could pretty much say "their humanity" - to the technology that allows them to ignore all that and just.......well, chill (I think I hate that word). We're turning into a race of cows and if the machine ever breaks, the predators will be waiting.......
I think that you are referring to the Dune Trilogy where the "spice" as located on only one planet. The spice helped navigate apace.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_(novel)
A computer taking over was in "2001 a Space Odyssey" ...where HAL, the computer tried taking over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001:_A...Odyssey_(film)
The Machine Stops was by E.M. Forster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_Stops
All stories that make you think.......What if the technology isn't working for what ever reason....War, EMP, Any disaster......?
That's the part that scares me.
Then we have vastly more knowledge gained from the Internet on how to handle it than if we never learned anything.
Stupid people are stupid. They will either choose to learn or not, weather it's through a computer or book.
Knowledge is knowledge no matter where it comes from. There are those that burned great classical literature for one reason or another. It's not the knowledge or even where it comes from. It's what you do with it.
Thanks for correcting my errors and for helping me get caught up with Doonesbury, a righteous comic strip. I think we are all aware of the blessings of technology, but anyone contributing to this forum will probably not become totally dependent upon it and completely helpless without it. :cool:Quote:
Originally Posted by hunter63
I would certainly hope not....the idea is to be self sufficient and able to take care of one self......Not have a "app for that".Quote:
Originally Posted by Faiaoga
I guess I just a bit surprised that there is some pretty venomous defense for technology from this group...LOL.
Didn't say it was bad or not to be used, just that it scares me that there is a such a dependence on something that could be gone in an instant......
As I read it in Doonesbury today, I did feel a shudder up my spine.....But that is just me ....and old guy.
Hunter, you evil man....and I had promised I would under no circumstances follow more than two webcomics.
Internet = technology? Holy Cow! If I could get to it without the #^$&^ computer I would. The Internet is just information floating around out there in cyberspace. That's my story and I'm gonna stick to it.
Hunter - I think you are just raising questions that people should ask about any new gadget or gimmick. Is it useful in a real way or just "bling" (a word that did not exist when us science majors carried slide rules). Keep on trucking, man, you have some righteous ideas that you share - outtasight. No doubt, information from the Internet is great but too many people substitute data for knowledge. :devil2:
@H63 - I took your OP to not be bashing technology, but rather the mindset of some people that have become so dependent on it and really don't (or can't) rely on anything else.
We all use it, and it's a wonderful tool. Knowing how to use all of the tools in the toolbox, and not just the techtool is important IMO. I think that most here do know how to use all or most of the tools.
Sort of like doing math without a calculator. Some folks get that deer in the headlights look if the cash register does operate correctly and tell them how much change to give.
Ain't that the truth! I remember working in a store - when the power went out, we broke out the manual cranks for the cash registers and finished ringing up the orders from the people that were already in the store.
I can imagine somebody being handed one of the old manual cash register cranks, wondering where to plug it in.
I often do math by hand just to keep in practice. Rebalancing the checkbook for example. It's just way too easy to become dependent upon a calculator and let your math skills rust away.
I do math by hand when I have to, or when I am showing my kids how to do it. But, when I am at work, and my math has to be 100% right, I use every tool available. And, usually I am triple checking with different approaches to make sure I get the same answer.
Hunter there is a difference between relying on technology, and using it. If my computer went down, I would be fine.....it would suck, but I would be fine.
There are always people out there that put all their eggs in one basket. The internet and smart phones, and google, just give them another crutch. I am still going to use it though. It is a lot faster for me to google how to fix a car problem, then to look through a Chilton. Especially if I can find the manufacturer's repair manual online.
LOL, Yeah I wasn't bashing anything....just thought it was cool that a major cartoon that is noted for being tuned into social and political satire for many, many years......thought enough about it to publish a cartoon about it.Quote:
Originally Posted by crashdive123
Oh well.....
I personally don't care what other people's attitudes are today, because I'm certainly convinced I'm surrounded by morons and idiots.
I only care what we (my family) think. :-) Everything else is out of my control and thus what they think, is not worth exhaustive discussion.
For a learning tool, Google and Youtube (as mentioned) are wonderful! Learn it now and take the knowledge with you. You cant learn it all so do what you can to better yourself, and avoid the "sky is falling" crowd to get closer to actual usable data.
EB
'The End of Pencil an Paper Exams?" is a new article in Slate magazine (July 31, 2014). I believe Emily Fall is the author. I need to read it carefully, but it seems to predict that all exams will be written using computers. It shows a young boy carrying a keyboard almost as big as he is - no more pen clipped into a shirt pocket and no more No, 2 pencil. Right On.
Just think- John F. Kennedy could never have been rescued because he lacked a digital PC coconut and a touch screen to write on it. No survivors from PT 109 because they lacked pencil, paper, computer, modem and power source for writing his famous message in the Solomon Islands. :cool::cool::cool:
ERROR: The article is from the Atlantic Monthly, not Slate. Sorry about that. The author is Emily Richmond.
Faiaoga (misfit, myopic, confused schoolteacher)
A natural progression I suppose. There was a time when we used quill and ink. Of course, having to catch a goose or turkey each time you wanted to write a note was a bit inconvenient.
Now that the topic has been brought up, I am reminded of a book "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. Bill Bryson, though far from a rugged outdoor survivalist. spent some time walking the Appalachian Trail together with an old high school friend - their misadventures form the basis of this humorous book. One of the telling incidents in the boo is a meeting with a Google-equipped but outdoors-challenged hiker in New England: this hiker had electronic devices for measuring every climate variable, a satellite GPS, Internet data and so on, but no water, no food, no spare clothing, no map and compass........you get the picture.
Bryson's book is a humorous one, but he makes some good points about being prepared, and he quotes park rangers who assist the electronic outdoorsman. I don't have the book with me but will look for it again. I think that Zonker Harris would agree "check it out, man". Right On. :thumbup:
Ironically, I listen to "A Walk In The Woods" on audio tape. For those of you that don't know Bill Bryson. He is an American write and NPR reporter. He hiked extensively in Europe and has what sounds like a Brittish accent as a result. He moved back to Georgia IIRC and discovered that his yard is near the AT. He decides after like a decade of not hiking, to start again.Quote:
Originally Posted by Faiaoga
Hearing his incredulous voice at the things that have changed since his hobby had gone ultra-lite and hi-tech. Buying a back pack for a couple hundred dollars and then being asked if he wanted a rain cover. "You mean they built a couple of hundred dollars back pack for back packing and nobody thought that you might want to take it outdoors?" or something like that.
Don't get me wrong, its probably a great read. But, listening to the audio book with my father, son, brother Sean, and nephews on the ride to hike a new location. And now, invariably even after about a decade of hearing that audio book, someone in camp will say, "You should have bought a 3 season tent." To which the knowing will peply in an incredulous Brittish accent attempt, "But, it is a 3 season tent!" "No its not..."
JFK carved a note on a coconut shell. He did not use a paper and pen. Had I never used any other method of writting then this computer I am on now. I would still need to know how to read and write to communicate like this. Granted talk to type is becoming more prevalent.
And spell check...
Anyway, if you haven't read "A Walk In The Woods" get the audio book. If you have read it, get the audio book. If for know other reason than to learn of the dangers of black bears and snickers in the woods and how Bill Bryson would die if 4 bears attacked him... Well worth anyone's time.
Spell check works great. Eye two have used it.
I see a typo in my post and I no I could edit it but won't. LOL
Batch: Thank you for telling me about the audio book version of Bryson's book - I will "check it out". Right On.
For me, one strange thing is that I have spent a lot of time teaching school where people had plenty of coconut shells to write on, if they wanted to use them. Usually they used paper, and many of them ended up with good literacy in spite of limited resources. Now visiting the mainland, I am surrounded by electronic communication devices - but I am not convinced that literacy has improved that much.
Faiaoga (misfit, jaded worn out teacher):smartass:
Spell check Is another great example. My spelling had improved drastically on paper because I'm always corrected on my phone and computer. A lot of family have spelled things wrong their whole lives. I wonder if every time they wrote that word they were instantly shown the correct way if the would still do that?
I agree that spell check is wonderful. The dictionary and thesaurus that used to reside on my desk now are neatly tucked away on a bookshelf. I always took care to spell things correctly. Technology has made the process more efficient.
ElevenBravo - the key is not to learn it now, but to learn the little bit you would need to recover the rest. For instance, you don't really need to remember calculus - all you really need is good problem solving skills, the fact that you can plot things, and what a slope is and you can derive all the rest. Despite my housemate's assertion that calculus isn't intuitive, it actually is.
What people should know is observational and communication skills (not grammar and spelling especially, though that's part of it - but how to be understood), problem solving skills, how to stay healthy (including first aid, survival skills, stress coping skills, maturity skills (self control, delayed gratification, goal building, commitment, responsibility, etc.), relationship building skills, and physical fitness), and a survey knowledge of everything else. We could rebuild society quickly from that beginning.
This came up on someone using google image search for plant ID.
http://wellpreserved.ca/how-to-becom...in-30-seconds/
Sometime this Dumas computer doesn't know what I "Meant".Quote:
Originally Posted by Rick
Now looking at the last statement......"dumas" checks out on the spell check...... with out a capitol D (as in Proper name)...
THAT is funny to me........
You might be interested to know that Dumas wrote The Three Musketeers and the Count of Monte Cristo. Not such a Dumas, huh?
That's a proper name........dumas (not capitalized) may have been added to my dictionary.
I've always preferred dumb masses (say it out loud and quickly).