No one takes notice because modern technology is built on millions of small
advances from little know people just doing their job. Some advances like
the light bulb were invented by multiple people at the same time, first guy
in the patent door gets all the glory. Without electricity the light bulb is
worthless, without an electrical conductor that is insulated electricity is
worthless.. and so on. The fact that people in the field that the deceased
was in know he has passed (or know of him at all) would mean more to the
person then having his name plastered on the TV for .5 seconds in between an
advertisement for coke and newest episode of friends.
If every digital device stopped working tomorrow it would take a few years
to rebuild those devices, and efficencies would drop in quite a bit of
manufacturing. But going back to the stone age will not happen. Dont forget
everything built in the 50's and 60's was built using analog controls along
with relay logic and pneumatics. People went to the moon on simple
technology built using sliderules. Sure we wont have a playstation 2,
digital TV, calculaters, and computers to name a few.. but that isnt the
stone age either. God forbid we might have to get out of our houses and
interact with other people instead of playing with our gadgets all day.
----- Original Message -----
From: "R. D. Davis" <rdd_at_rddavis.org>
To: <cctalk_at_classiccmp.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 10, 2003 11:40 PM
Subject: Re: George Morrow died Wed May 7th 2003
> Quothe John Lawson, from writings of Fri, May 09, 2003 at
03:23:13PM -0400:
> > And what it means is - that even now we begin to lose the great people
> > who have been at the foundations of the technology that modern
> > 'civilization' is founded upon, and seemingly no one takes notice. They
> > are silently passing and who knows? Who cares? What network runs a
> > 'Special: The Passing of a Nerd'
> [...]
>
> Well said! One's perceived value to society appears to be inversely
> proportional to intellect. To be of great value to society, one must
> think like a lobotomized ape and go around speaking such meaningful
> phrases as "duhhh, footbawl!"
>
> > Yet - if every digital device were to cease working tomorrow - just how
> > close to the Stone Age do ya think we'd sink?
>
> Considering that a large percentage of the world's population,
> including a large percentage U.S. population, still appears to not
> even have evolved to the Stone Age yet, it probably wouldn't take long
> at all. Given that a large percentage of politicians still have a
> pre-pre-historic mind-set, they won't be of much help.
>
> --
> Copyright (C) 2003 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other
animals:
> All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature
&
> rdd_at_rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify
such
> http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
Received on Sat May 10 2003 - 23:09:00 BST