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> Did adoption of calculators lead to less learning of arithmetic. Certainly. Was that a bad thing? I honestly don't know. IMO it was bad for individuals, good
by Spooky23 4y ago
> Did adoption of calculators lead to less learning of arithmetic. Certainly. Was that a bad thing? I honestly don't know.
IMO it was bad for individuals, good for society. People are innumerate and that is exploited by people selling products and services.
- Version467 4y agoI don't understand how you get from here: > People are innumerate and that is exploited by people selling products and services. to here: > good for society Did I misunderstand your argument?
- Spooky23 4y agoMaybe economy is a better word? In the short term, any ding dong punching into a calculator or Excel can do something productive cheaper than someone who knows what they are doing. An elderly relative was manager in a cash room at a regional bank. In the 70s… they had a huge cash room, that would accommodate 25’ trucks. When she started they were still doing manual counts, and eventually moved to tabulating machines. Each generation of tech eliminates a chunk of workforce. Instead of 5,000 clerks, that bank has 50 software engineers performing the same functions with a couple of dozen clerical staff.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- emodendroket 4y agoIt is not obvious to me why I should believe people were more numerate in the past.