4 ms·

So because the technology may change at some point in the future, there's no reason to learn it now? Nobody should have bothered learning how to use a fountain

by jff 17y ago

So because the technology may change at some point in the future, there's no reason to learn it now? Nobody should have bothered learning how to use a fountain pen, because they should have known ballpoints would be around eventually? If you want to use the Internet, you should at least know a little bit about how information is addressed. Would you consider it acceptable to spend a couple hours in the library every day but still not know what the Dewey Decimal System is? This facebook login thing is like you went to the library every day for the same book, but instead of learning its location in the shelf, you ask the librarian and blindly grab the book he points at--in this case, he pointed to the book next to yours. Hey, this book used to be about Tom Sawyer--why did they change it to be about a jumping frog?

stcredzero 17y ago
Nobody should have bothered learning how to use a fountain pen, because they should have known ballpoints would be around eventually? Notice that nobody cares about nib maintenance anymore, and that ballpoints made fortunes before they became commoditized. Those fortunes were made by innovators who could tell the essentials from trivia and mechanics. Would you consider it acceptable to spend a couple hours in the library every day but still not know what the Dewey Decimal System is? Since we have computerized indexing, one could just go to serial numbers and not lose a bit of functionality. Physical browsing would lose out, but that's hardly a loss of essential function. Cover Flow shows how this could be replaced and enhanced. Lots of librarians are actually wrestling with such implications. Just one example: http://ramblinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-every-book-has-reader.html http://ramblinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-every-book-... There was also a Google tech talk about this. This facebook login thing is like you went to the library every day for the same book, but instead of learning its location in the shelf, you ask the librarian and blindly grab the book he points at Your analogy falls down. URLs are much farther from everyday reality than objects like books. The level of abstraction is different, which is the essential point.
- donaq 17y ago
  URLs are much farther from everyday reality than objects like books I should point out that the reverse is true for many people these days, and will be true for many more in the future. The digital revolution is creating a new reality, methinks, and it behooves a citizen of the times to learn how to get around in both. :)
  - stcredzero 17y ago
    The digital revolution is creating a new reality, methinks, and it behooves a citizen of the times to learn how to get around in both. :) This is like touting the immense possibilities of a brave new, literate world, but then emphasizing one should brush up on their wet tablet cuneiform skills. The first part hits the essence of the revolution. The second part is mired in implementation triviality.
    - donaq 17y ago
      Except that a whole lot of other ubiquitous technologies are built upon that implementation triviality, which makes it no longer trivial.

by jff 17y ago

stcredzero 17y ago

Nobody should have bothered learning how to use a fountain pen, because they should have known ballpoints would be around eventually? Notice that nobody cares about nib maintenance anymore, and that ballpoints made fortunes before they became commoditized. Those fortunes were made by innovators who could tell the essentials from trivia and mechanics. Would you consider it acceptable to spend a couple hours in the library every day but still not know what the Dewey Decimal System is? Since we have computerized indexing, one could just go to serial numbers and not lose a bit of functionality. Physical browsing would lose out, but that's hardly a loss of essential function. Cover Flow shows how this could be replaced and enhanced. Lots of librarians are actually wrestling with such implications. Just one example: http://ramblinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-every-book-has-reader.html http://ramblinglibrarian.blogspot.com/2009/03/if-every-book-... There was also a Google tech talk about this. This facebook login thing is like you went to the library every day for the same book, but instead of learning its location in the shelf, you ask the librarian and blindly grab the book he points at Your analogy falls down. URLs are much farther from everyday reality than objects like books. The level of abstraction is different, which is the essential point.

donaq 17y ago
URLs are much farther from everyday reality than objects like books I should point out that the reverse is true for many people these days, and will be true for many more in the future. The digital revolution is creating a new reality, methinks, and it behooves a citizen of the times to learn how to get around in both. :)
- stcredzero 17y ago
  The digital revolution is creating a new reality, methinks, and it behooves a citizen of the times to learn how to get around in both. :) This is like touting the immense possibilities of a brave new, literate world, but then emphasizing one should brush up on their wet tablet cuneiform skills. The first part hits the essence of the revolution. The second part is mired in implementation triviality.
  - donaq 17y ago
    Except that a whole lot of other ubiquitous technologies are built upon that implementation triviality, which makes it no longer trivial.