Whilst people grow fruit and veg, roast their own coffee beans, make sourdough bread, cook meals from first principles etc humanity is safe. The vinyl revival, film cameras coming back etc are all proof that there is a small but vocal push back to the blight of the smartphone disconnecting us from reality. It takes 10-15 years to adjust to a distruptive change. Email used to be the same. But have faith and wield a soldering iron
It remember me the fisrt time i've scuplted my own bone nuts for my guitars... i've recuperated the "osso bucco" bones after the family dinner, put them in hydrogen peroxide, cut them with a wood saw then sculpt them directly on the guitar.
I've been disruptive from the technical evolution... but it was not an evolution, it was a commercial paradigm based on thrustfull technology (tusc material).
So true. So much of industry is compartmentalized. This means that you focus on one small task over and over, which all too often leads to the worker not knowing what the big picture is. In banking and finance this was quite prevalent; I've heard it claimed by people in the industry that this is how Lehman, MF Global, etc got away with their illegal bookkeeping and trading tactics. The clerk doing the data processing has no reason to believe that they are putting their fingerprint on an illegal transaction. Those who keep up with current events know what happened to those firms and know that they were major contributors to the crash of 2007-2009. They did a lot of damage to the economy and nobody was put in jail. They really knew how to spread the blame around. It ruined some perfectly honest and capable people. The crooks got the customary golden parachutes.
I noticed a change in attitudes towards DIY in the 1970's.
I worked as a apprentice car mechanic.
Where as previously I had often just repaired things I was told to stop doing that and replace the faulty component with a new part.
Even if the brushes in a dynamo wanted replacing we then replaced the whole dynamo.
I worked as a apprentice car mechanic.
Where as previously I had often just repaired things I was told to stop doing that and replace the faulty component with a new part.
Even if the brushes in a dynamo wanted replacing we then replaced the whole dynamo.
Remember the good old days...
Number of countries having a banking crisis in each year since 1800
Bretton Woods system - Wikipedia
Remember the good old days... again !
I gave my last car at 366000Kms and the motor cylinders compressions were in the tolerances.
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Same happened at BT when I worked there. Nothing was repaired, waste of time and nobody knew how the new stuff worked anyway
yeah but strowger greasing was a skill you really didn't need on system X
I sold my last car at 280000 miles (450000km) as the clutch was getting to the end of its life and not economic to replace. Back when all parts could be replaced you would be lucky to get a fraction of that without rebuilds. I don't miss doing tappets every 10k and hunting the grease nipple. My grandfather used to have to decoke every 7000 miles on his austin 7. The fact that my car did 16 years hard service with no wheel bearings gone, original block and transmission and even original exhaust shows progress. that is good
But I can still get alternators repaired locally
I sold my last car at 280000 miles (450000km) as the clutch was getting to the end of its life and not economic to replace. Back when all parts could be replaced you would be lucky to get a fraction of that without rebuilds. I don't miss doing tappets every 10k and hunting the grease nipple. My grandfather used to have to decoke every 7000 miles on his austin 7. The fact that my car did 16 years hard service with no wheel bearings gone, original block and transmission and even original exhaust shows progress. that is good
But I can still get alternators repaired locally
I listen to more music since giving up vinyl and can take many more images since giving up film. I enjoy the resolution of TV more since the change over to digital and my computer controlled car is much more reliable without points and a choke.Whilst people grow fruit and veg, roast their own coffee beans, make sourdough bread, cook meals from first principles etc humanity is safe. The vinyl revival, film cameras coming back etc are all proof that there is a small but vocal push back to the blight of the smartphone disconnecting us from reality. It takes 10-15 years to adjust to a distruptive change. Email used to be the same. But have faith and wield a soldering iron
Now if someone could point me to the fountain of youth?
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I think we tend to listen to as much music as we want to listen to, with as much choice as we want to have. Now, if you don't care (much) about choice, you could listen to FM radio 24/7 in the 1960's thru to the 1990's if you wanted. Zero interruption, not even waiting for the music server to boot. You can still, if you can find a station not poisoned by "modern" corporate greed.
I am still, 20 years after the first digital cameras, not rich enough to afford one that equals film resolution. If you want to compromise on image quality, today is better. If you feel photographic quality or usefulness is based on the sheer quantity of photos taken, today is better.
If you actually know how to drive a "primitive" car ... I own one that is 27 years old, and is more fun to drive than any near-new "does everything for me" vehicle, and not by a small margin. And it is modern ... fuel injected, computer controlled. Except I replaced the computer with one I mapped, because, well, the supercharger wasn't available from the OEM.
And for the record, "points and a choke" hasn't been part of automotive manufacturing since the early 1970's, and manual chokes became illegal in North America on new vehicles in 1967 (and by that time, they only existed on certain motors and only in trucks; GM dropped it in 1965 and later model pickups). The seat in your modern 2017 car, by the way, meets a Federal MV Safety Standard enacted in 1968 and unchanged (except for a later rule making it applicable to light trucks) since.
The Space Shuttle flew on IBM 286 computers until the refit in the 21st Century. The moon landings were done with slide rules, the rockets built by Chrysler Corporation. Would you trust FCA to build the rocket you took to space today?
There is much that is lost by modern innovation just as there is much that is gained. To see only one side is to miss part of what makes life enjoyable.
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It is not a matter of supperiority or inferiority.
My car motor is also computerized and all the parts are original manufacturer parts (even the whole stereo system is factory installed) because i'm considering it perfectly designed for the price i've paid it and I will not try to beat the engeeners in any way.
... but in 2017 there is 3 bilions of smartphones in the world, who really needs them ?
My kit car I actually soldered the ECU together. Had I kept it longer I would have probably known every nut and bolt on it. And yes it was as much for tinkering with as driving, but it was a right hoot on the road as well
I designed a motorbike ECU and wrote the software for it.
I wrote the pc software for remapping the ignition and setting the rev limiter.
I loved the Motorola Motofone V3 and the V150 clamshell. But if you try to use them today the GSM network is shut down. A real shame too because they are secure by default of having not enough hardware to do anything. The user interface and the sound quality and battery life which are the most important thing when making a phone call or in a mobile phone were all superb.
But today I'm stuck with a Lenovo Vibe K5 A6020a40. Which is questionable with which if its secure or not, even if I changed the factory firmware to an open source one there can still be vulnerabilities. The FOSS community doesn't like to admit it but there can be flaws found in their code which can then be exploited, or inserted, via participation with companies or government parties which contribute to the code.
Anyway thats not why I've made this post, I'm sick of all of the features and buttons on a modern smartphone, many times I've pocket-dialled from the lock screen and done other such things like turned on the flashlight, turned on bluetooth etc (which becomes completely useless because of power consumption). Just wish there was a dumb phone that acts like a phone and not a computer. if I want a computer I'll look into the glovebox and pull out a tablet.
I would have to agree that the push back from modern technology is not only more human its definitely better for us because we are people who like to use our hands a lot. Taking a "human holiday" is very healthy.
But today I'm stuck with a Lenovo Vibe K5 A6020a40. Which is questionable with which if its secure or not, even if I changed the factory firmware to an open source one there can still be vulnerabilities. The FOSS community doesn't like to admit it but there can be flaws found in their code which can then be exploited, or inserted, via participation with companies or government parties which contribute to the code.
Anyway thats not why I've made this post, I'm sick of all of the features and buttons on a modern smartphone, many times I've pocket-dialled from the lock screen and done other such things like turned on the flashlight, turned on bluetooth etc (which becomes completely useless because of power consumption). Just wish there was a dumb phone that acts like a phone and not a computer. if I want a computer I'll look into the glovebox and pull out a tablet.
I would have to agree that the push back from modern technology is not only more human its definitely better for us because we are people who like to use our hands a lot. Taking a "human holiday" is very healthy.
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It's true that points went away in 1973 for most cars. The "automatic" choke (a bimetallic spring usually mounted on the exhaust manifold) was with us for as long as the carburetor. The last carbureted car that I remember was the 1989 Hyundai Excel with a Mitsubishi 1.5L motor. My 1989 Eagle Summit (Mitsubishi Mirage) was the first year that the Mitsu 1.5L motor got fuel injection. I think the excels went to their grave with a carb.
I was a Mopar guy forever having owned about a dozen slant six cars, a pair of 440 cars, and most everything in between. Recently our last pre FCA Jeep got traded for a used Honda. That cute little Jeep Renegade that my wife wanted......read the window sticker carefully. Made in Italy (or Brazil, or China). It's a Fiat 500 derivative.
I designed, coded and built the ECU for my "redesigned" 1982 Dodge Charger (a FWD Omni derivative). The wimpy 82 HP 2.2L motor hit the trash, and in went a 142 HP turbo motor and 5 speed trans from a wrecked 1984 Daytona. A phone call to the "Chrysler Shelby Performance Center" led me to talking to Carroll Shelby himself, who then connected me to the guy who had built a prototype for what would become the 1985 Dodge Charger Shelby, from exactly the same parts combination. He stated that the hard part would be the wiring harness because it wouldn't be available until the 1985 car hit the showrooms......but he sent me a diagram and I made my own. After racing this car and breaking lots of parts, I would be on a first name basis with Carroll and Steve (the guy who built the prototype car). I would also spend a few kilobucks for custom parts from Shelby over the years.
Equaling the resolution of film may be out of your (and my) budget, but exceeding the resolution of your display and printing systems is possible. I bought a Panasonic pocket camera about 6 years ago for $100 on closeout. It is 4000 X 3000 in resolution, takes excellent pictures, and good 1080 video. The pictures have higher resolution than the cheap 4K TV that I use for a display, and you cant see the pixels with a magnifying glass on an 8 1/2 by 11 (or 8 X 10) print made with a $250 Epson printer. Most of the pictures that I have posted on this forum were shot on the Panasonic because under good conditions it equals my Canon DSLR (a budget model). If you know the camera's limitations, and shoot to avoid them, you can get great pictures from a budget camera.
Very few really "need" them, but about half of their owners would suffer serious withdrawals if they were taken away. I pay the phone bill for 3 phones, mine, my wife's, and my daughter's. I may send or receive 50 texts a month (about half are unwanted adverts), 20 phone calls, but I hog most of the shared data (YouTube). The other two are in the thousands for texts and phone minutes every month. They both have new phones, while I still have my 5 year old Samsung. It does all I need.
Note that as of about 4 years ago ALL Motorola phone technology, and the Motorola brand were bought by Lenovo. All US based phone work was shut down about 2 years ago and all the people laid off.
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Er, in many parts, and I think most, of the world the smartphone is sole means of connectivity. No landline, no tablet, no computer. So many of those 3 billion really need them.
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