What I cannot build, I cannot understand.
“Richard Feynman [1]”
I've ranted against control panels [2]. I've ranted against scripting langauges [3]. I've ranted against GPS (Global Positioning System) units [4]. I've even ranted about user groups [5].
I certainly come across as a curmudgeon, odd as I enjoy and generally believe in technology. But recently I've been asking myself, “Myself, why am I such a curmudgeon?”
That question is proving hard to answer.
Another question that is proving hard to answer is, “when does technology pass from being a tool to being a crutch?”
I've been trying to answer this since 6:00 pm today (and even though it's dated the 2^nd, it's now 2:15 am on the 3^rd and I'm still trying to answer it). I've lost count to the number of drafts I've done, and I've rejected them all as either too rambly, too incoherent or both.
Even Bunny mentioned that all the GPS horror stories I've presented so far ignore the hundreds of thousands of successful uses of the invention. For every plane crash you hear about, you don't hear about the 100,000 plane landings where nothing happened.
I have found, though that my Don Quixhotesque [6] rants can be classified as:
On second thought, it can be condensed down to:
And while I may have answered why I'm such a curmudgeon, I'm still no closer to answering the other question.
When does technology pass from being a tool to being a crutch?
I got some answers to my last question [7] …
[1] http://www.feynmanonline.com/
[2] http://clusty.com/search?query=control+panels&host=boston.conman.org