6 ms·
Makes me wonder if we lost something with the transition to computers...
by digi_owl 9y ago
Makes me wonder if we lost something with the transition to computers...
- raverbashing 9y agoLead vapours in enclosed spaces Seems a good tradeoff to me
- digi_owl 9y agoI was thinking in a more general sense, and about how we keep seeing a churn in software "solutions" were as the parent comment pointed out how once a mechanical solution was found it stayed in use for decades.
- raverbashing 9y agoYes, there was a lot of mechanical (not as in repetitive, but in the sense of mechanical devices) and crafty knowledge that is now obsolete But Linotype was not too old, it replaced manually joining the types in a line It's evolution, and some things survive, some don't
- ggus 9y agoand the unbearable noise, which is why many deaf people were hired to work with them. [1] [1] https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/from-tablet-to-tablet/final-projects/the-invention-of-the-linotype-machine-jienne-alhaideri-13 https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/from-tablet-to-tablet/f...
- pipio21 9y agoOhhh yeah, we lost a lot of things: We lost all those noises that Teletype did that drove anyone crazy. Without the Linotype we lost all the toxic fumes that killed people, and the accidents with molten lead being expelled and burning people. We lost the exclusivity factor of only a few companies being able to spend the enormous price those things had and the many people that were needed to repair the machines, write, physically send and receive messages.
- digi_owl 9y agoAnd in return we have gained landfills of perfectly functional devices that no longer can be sued because some "genius" decided to replace some framework or other only a few years after the devices were shipped...
- jacobolus 9y agoBut we also have lost the ability for regular people to look at the machines they use every day and understand them purely by inspection, with no “black boxes”. That’s no small loss. While we can now use computer controlled machines to cut materials at higher precision and into trickier shapes than ever before, mechanical knowledge and skill is in the hands of a smaller proportion of the population. There has been a significant erosion in the broader society’s skill at physical/mechanical reasoning and invention. We have amazingly precise calculators and displays but the elimination of slide rules and nomograms and physical measuring devices and drafting tools and the steady reduction of geometry in school curricula mean that geometric intuition and insight into the numerical relationships involved are on the retreat. Instead of inventors, machinists, assembly workers, or repair technicians we are left with a society of salespeople and paper pushers, with the occasional computer programmer or statistician. Even folks working in architecture, industrial design, mechanical engineering, or similar careers today spend most of their time sitting and staring at a screen.
- PJDK 9y agoDoes this assertion really hold up? While every day I use machines I can't easily inspect I also have access to a wealth of very easily accessible information about all manner of physical/mechanical things, plus the ability to order just about any tool material that can be dreamt of. On a personal level, I'm about to embark on a very ambitious DIY project that I doubt I would have the confidence to undertake if I didn't have access to thousands of youtube tutorials and an internet's worth of material suppliers.
- Animats 9y agoNow that's true. In the 1990s, to build electronics, I had to establish a credit account with Hamilton/Avnet just to order parts. Making a PC board at least used CAD, but AutoCAD, not an electrical CAD program. The files went to one shop that generated Gerber films, which had to be sent to the board fab shop, with about two week turnaround.
- gkya 9y agoMechanical machines are really satisfying, for their tactileness and simplicity. I have a typewriter, watching real impressions appear on real paper is way more fulfilling, and the organicness of the interaction is not even nearly matched in any computer program I used: you're always detached from the circuitry, where with mechanical devices you're a part of it. But the advantages of computerised production far outweigh those of mechanical devices, so I only type on my typewriter every once in a while as a recreative activity.
- rainythunder 9y agoSo, how exactly do you propose compiling and testing the code on your typewriter?
- bokey 9y agoI too have a typewriter at home. I don't use it often, but when I do it's very satisfying for some reason. I find it to be a pretty useful tool as well. I like to type out initial contact or offer letters for potential clients. In a digital world, receiving something that was typed really says something - or at least I've been told. Every key stroke is done with thought, as one screw up and you'll have to start over.
- KGIII 9y agoThe ability for one person to understand the totality of the process.