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Yup - we have higher res graphics, and (maybe) quicker networking, but we're doing almost exactly the same things, in almost exactly the same manner. Progress??

Yup - we have higher res graphics, and (maybe) quicker networking, but we're doing almost exactly the same things, in almost exactly the same manner. Progress?? I despair that we've all got astonishing computer power but it hasn't got us far at all. If anything, we just accept poorer apps and less efficient systems. Though they do look prettier. Sigh.

ROTMetro 4y ago
Strong disagree. Quick off the top of my head: Kids today on their laptops have more music tools than a $500,000 studio would have had 20 years ago. VSCode compared to the tools I used in the 90s blows my mind every day. I'll be like 'hmmm, you know what would be a nice tool/feature' go to marketplace, yep, someone made it and I am now using it 5 minutes after having a thought. My son moved to a remote location yet can keep in touch with friends and family easily sharing videos/playing games together. I talked to my grandparents once every other month over a poor quality phone call. Cost of communication isn't even a consideration when I reach out to my son today. https://www.ableton.com/en/ https://www.ableton.com/en/ https://code.visualstudio.com/ https://code.visualstudio.com/ https://store.steampowered.com/ https://store.steampowered.com/
- deleted 4y ago
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- drpixie 4y ago
  Obviously I didn't make my point clearly, because your examples confirm what I'm thinking. Electronic music has been around for ages - I was a great fan of Kraftwerk. Your kids have huge amounts of music, I had a bit - they are doing the same thing, just more of it. You love VSCode - but you're using it to cut code at the same (or similar) level of complexity to what I was cutting 40 years ago. Maybe quicker, or easier, but essentially the same activity. Comms is cheaper and easier (I remember when email became a thing - wow - we had a stable route from Oz to MIT - back in the uucp days!) but we're doing what we always did - talking and writing to each other. Where are the new things? The things that didn't exist previously? What are we using this tech for, that we just couldn't do before? The only answers that has been a little convincing is gaming and big data. It wasn't possible/practical to do large scale simulation before. But many of our games are largely the same old activities ... shoot-em-ups, DnD. The tiny "retro" games might be one of few things that just didn't exist before "micro" tech. And big data (eg. ChatGPT) just wasn't possible before enormous amounts of accessible data ... but it's looking like it's just a great Eliza :(
  - zappchance 4y ago
    There's VR. There's AR that's only been possible with smartphones getting better. I will be the first to say I'm disappointed that a lot of the cool, new technology just isn't practical outside of gaming. However there are some new useful things like Apple Pay and Google Pay, more convenient and accurate map applications as opposed to old GPS systems, instant text recognition and translation of images on your phone. But these aren't based on flashy technology, just incremental improvements like your examples.

ROTMetro 4y ago

Strong disagree. Quick off the top of my head: Kids today on their laptops have more music tools than a $500,000 studio would have had 20 years ago. VSCode compared to the tools I used in the 90s blows my mind every day. I'll be like 'hmmm, you know what would be a nice tool/feature' go to marketplace, yep, someone made it and I am now using it 5 minutes after having a thought. My son moved to a remote location yet can keep in touch with friends and family easily sharing videos/playing games together. I talked to my grandparents once every other month over a poor quality phone call. Cost of communication isn't even a consideration when I reach out to my son today. https://www.ableton.com/en/ https://www.ableton.com/en/ https://code.visualstudio.com/ https://code.visualstudio.com/ https://store.steampowered.com/ https://store.steampowered.com/

deleted 4y ago
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drpixie 4y ago
Obviously I didn't make my point clearly, because your examples confirm what I'm thinking. Electronic music has been around for ages - I was a great fan of Kraftwerk. Your kids have huge amounts of music, I had a bit - they are doing the same thing, just more of it. You love VSCode - but you're using it to cut code at the same (or similar) level of complexity to what I was cutting 40 years ago. Maybe quicker, or easier, but essentially the same activity. Comms is cheaper and easier (I remember when email became a thing - wow - we had a stable route from Oz to MIT - back in the uucp days!) but we're doing what we always did - talking and writing to each other. Where are the new things? The things that didn't exist previously? What are we using this tech for, that we just couldn't do before? The only answers that has been a little convincing is gaming and big data. It wasn't possible/practical to do large scale simulation before. But many of our games are largely the same old activities ... shoot-em-ups, DnD. The tiny "retro" games might be one of few things that just didn't exist before "micro" tech. And big data (eg. ChatGPT) just wasn't possible before enormous amounts of accessible data ... but it's looking like it's just a great Eliza :(
- zappchance 4y ago
  There's VR. There's AR that's only been possible with smartphones getting better. I will be the first to say I'm disappointed that a lot of the cool, new technology just isn't practical outside of gaming. However there are some new useful things like Apple Pay and Google Pay, more convenient and accurate map applications as opposed to old GPS systems, instant text recognition and translation of images on your phone. But these aren't based on flashy technology, just incremental improvements like your examples.