i was just thinking
 

yea, i was thinking
do you guys think computers are a total waste of life?
like crazy new age math terminals that rot our brains?

no. I can't imagine not having computers. Everything now days depend on them. Banking, POS, making cars....nearly everything.

I use my computer to keep in contact with people, to get information and entertainment. It depends on the user if it consumes their life so much it rots their brain. Being on the computer for 48hrs straight is not healthy. Havn't people died from doing stuff like that?

yea, ther's alot of practical use for computers,
but sometimes it just seems like its going nowhere
just another strange and meticulous creation of the human mind.
I mean i've accomplished some cool stuff programing,
I just wonder if any other programers feel like its slightly a game of solitare.

Sure, computers are a total waste of life if one's life is totally about computers.

It's important to step away from anything -- electronic or otherwise -- that consumes most of your time. Balance is a key ingredient of a worthwhile life. Just my opinion.

If you're doing something useful on the computer, like taxes, work papers, essays, managing a server, etc then it's not a waste of time...but if you, like me, spend a lot of time playing Ski Free and vintage DOS games then yes it is a waste of time :p :D

Let's see, I and the people I know use their computers for art, writing, communication, photos, movies, music...the whole range of human expression.

That doesn't resemble a math terminal to me.

I wasn't into computers when they were about command lines and spreadsheets, but it's been a long time since they were just that way.

My deceased father had boxes of aging slides of our family dating back to the late thirties. He used Kodachrome, so all the color is still there. I have scanned and archived them all to pass on to my son and daughter, along with all of our photos, films and audio. Without our Mac, this would have been a painful process. Instead, it was quite fun and simple to recreate an 8x10 or Ken Burn's style documentary. Anything but a waste of time. And this is just one example.

Balance in all things. TV and computers are not evil. But watching the discovery channel may be a better use of your time than watching informercials.

Well, I use them all the time and still capitalize the first words in sentences. :D

So I suppose one's milage might vary. I also happen to be a huge fan of books, as well.

i think they are a waste of time. poeple have existed for millenia without them. they are useful for the reasons Screengem says, but most of the time people spend on computers is just fking the dog, surfing around, procrastinating. Spending time like this can be an addictive form of escape for some. There are actually chemicals associated with pleasure which are released into the brain when we encounter something new. Computers enable us to always find something new, and to do it instantly and easily, so we can get as much of the brain chemical released as we like, causing the addiction.

think of all the things you could be doing with the hours you spend in front of the screen tickatapping. the things you've always meant to do, that can always wait till tomorrow or next year.

Are computers a wast of time that rot our brain? They can be. Do computers wast our time? No. We waste our time. I think it all comes down to the user.

hmmmm, debatable, but maybe right.

like Pro Grape was saying
people have existed for a long time without computers

styrafome, you might really like to be able to take digital photos and then send them all to your cousin in bejing in a few seconds. I was just wondering if you guys like the way the human life style is going, because im thinking i dont.

Would you guys prefer the 1900's rather than this space age stuff?

I have lived the early 1900s through my grandfather, and I say I can't prefer the early 1900s. The Great Depression...Who'd want to suffer that?

Ah yes, the early 1900s...when the Spanish Flu killed 50 to 100 million people in 18 months, and World War I killed millions more. "The optimism of the 1900s was entirely gone, and those who fought in the war became what is known as 'the Lost Generation' because they never fully recovered from their experiences." -Wikipedia

And the middle 1900s, before polio and TB were eliminated (people forget how common that was), with the Depression and World War II causing rationing, great national sacrifice, and the use of atomic weapons...

And the late 1900s, with Cold War communism, Vietnam, assassinations, and widespread use of automobiles before the catalytic converter (people forget how horrific the air was in American cities back then, but you can go to Shanghai now and experience it)...

Those were the days...

Seriously, though, it is too easy to romanticize the past.

The best future will be the one where we are reasonably high tech, but we have also figured out how to make our devices recyclable, sustainable, and consuming much less power than today.

My grandfather was born in 1899. He died in 1991 at the age of 91. He used to say that he wouldn't want to be born in these modern times. He felt that society was much more civilized back then, and life was much more enjoyable. Sure, there was the flu, and the Great War, but there wasn't the over crowding, and large corporations weren't yet able to turn every job into a commodity to be shipped to the lowest bidder.

We also still have large wars with a significant threat of a third world war leading to hundreds of millions (billions?) of deaths, and the ponds that my grandfather used to swim and drink from are too polluted for either. We also face threats that didn't exist in his time. Ecological terrorism, biological terrorism, and cultural/religious wars are threats our governments haven't yet learned to deal with. Global warming may not be an immediate threat, but it's real, and it's coming.

I like the technology and what it can do for me, but I'm under no illusion that things are better today than when my grandfather was alive. Computers, far from being a waste of time, have the potential to solve many of these problems, and help mitigate many of the rest. If they ever do, then we will be living in a much better world. The problem is that computers only do what they're programmed to do, and most of our troubles are created by people, who can now use computers to create more trouble than ever!

.
I will have to close this thread if I see another political post.
That is not what the Coat Room is for. (Post editing requested in PMs.)

-- ArcticStones

Many apologies Arctic, I had just finished a triathlon, had to go to work, and was very fired up a few hours ago. I'll edit post anyway...

.
Trumpet & cwtnospam: Thanks for the edits. :)

I could never live without a computer :eek:

Well, I wouldn't go that far...

To tell the truth, I actually fantasise sometimes about leaving all technology behind me and moving to somewhere in Asia. Maybe it's a real fantasy, or maybe i've watched The Mosquito Coast too many times...

Asia? You're kidding right? Asia is the home of technology aka Sony and Nintendo ;) :D (yay Hong Kong! :D)

A story from Temptation Island...
 

I definitely agree!
Here is an amusing story about someone who allows his technological addictions to displace the finer aspects of life. ;)

without technolgy I'd have no reason to stay up until 2 or so in the morning :( :D ...lets see I've been on this computer since 11PM...it's now 2AM....I've been on the computer for 4 hours straight....now tell me of something else that can keep someone entertained for that long... :p

A hot girlfriend? ;)

Yep, that beats computer anything hands-down, no matter the situation. Even when she's in a foul mood, I still enjoy it better as it's like a challenge to put her in a better mood! Where can you do that on your Mac? Huh?

It doesn't work like that. I moved here to Thailand 15 years ago and technology here is way ahead of the UK, in both availability and penetration. There is so much Wifi in Bangkok now that I can use Stumbler or similar to stay online as I drive around town.

Currently sitting on a sala at the British Club (www.britishclubbangkok.org) and have 7 nets to choose from. I would imagine Pnom Penh and Vientiane are not that far behind. Saigon certainly is not. Even in the slum shanties, people dressed in rags have tv, a mobile phone and, often, a computer of some description. No getting away from tech around here!
:-)
Gavin

Google Earth in Baghdad
 

A think a lot of people living in the West are clueless when it comes to availability and penetration of technology in distant countries. We are not necessarily the leading edge when it comes to implementation and utilisation -- far from it!

I just read an article about how Iraqis in Baghdad were using Google Earth. They had established websites and contact networks to inform each other where it was safe to move about, and what routes to choose. Not to go off on a tangent, but I think many of us would be astonished at what is going on in other countries.

-- ArcticStones

Great :confused: Now it looks as if Asia is ruled out, but I'm still close by, i'm now really thinking mosquito - Absolute Jungle! What I meant was to escape all the technology both mentally and physically somehow.

I know someone who's most techno savvy object in his life is his analogue 1930's wristwatch - I'm not kidding - and I really respect him as his life seems just great without all the techno clutter of modern life...

I don't want to disappoint you, but I have seen Hmong hilltribesmen with the latest mobiles phones.....

There is always Papua New Guinea - real cavemen there. There is a downside though - they might just eat you! How about the Outback in Oz then?

Great thread....
G.

I think your best bet is actually the United States of America. Just find a place without cell phone coverage -- and there are looooots of white areas on the Coverage Map!! (Such as the city of Eureka, California, last time I was there.) ;)

I've never been 'Outback' in my own country before, strange as it sounds. But I'm sure that even when sitting near Ayers Rock (sorry, Uluru) that you could probably pick up something of a wireless signal, or something else just as dumb, like a bluetooth printer or whatever.

Post deleted.

I’d say crawl out of your bunker -- and bring a big eraser. ;)