Am I living in a high-tech nightmare? (advance, skype, video)
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I consider myself to be in the "technology is good" camp. But I really think there should come a point where we stop advancing and inventing new things. Try to prove that premise as false, but some things make it seem as if I'm living in a high-tech nightmare. In motion picture technology, the studios killed off 35mm film, and I thought moviegoing was supposed to be a magical experience. It's not even niche anymore. And if it does only remain a niche, who under 60 is into film anyways? I guess I'm old-school because my philosophy on a few modern advances. I can write a whole book. How can mankind escape this orwellian nightmare? Or how can we steer the progress in a better direction?
I consider myself to be in the "technology is good" camp. But I really think there should come a point where we stop advancing and inventing new things. Try to prove that premise as false, but some things make it seem as if I'm living in a high-tech nightmare. In motion picture technology, the studios killed off 35mm film, and I thought moviegoing was supposed to be a magical experience. It's not even niche anymore. And if it does only remain a niche, who under 60 is into film anyways? I guess I'm old-school because my philosophy on a few modern advances. I can write a whole book. How can mankind escape this orwellian nightmare? Or how can we steer the progress in a better direction?
I disagree. There shouldn't be a point where we stop advancing and inventing new things. That doesn't mean that we adopt everything just because it's new, but I'd also argue that if it isn't an improvement it shouldn't be called an advancement.
I'm not quite clear what you mean about 35 mm film. Are you opposed to digital projection? Maybe you could explain that a bit better.
Finally, I'd hardly call the world an Orwellian nightmare. If anything Huxley was closer but the world is no dystopia.
I consider myself to be in the "technology is good" camp. But I really think there should come a point where we stop advancing and inventing new things. Try to prove that premise as false, but some things make it seem as if I'm living in a high-tech nightmare. In motion picture technology, the studios killed off 35mm film, and I thought moviegoing was supposed to be a magical experience. It's not even niche anymore. And if it does only remain a niche, who under 60 is into film anyways? I guess I'm old-school because my philosophy on a few modern advances. I can write a whole book. How can mankind escape this orwellian nightmare? Or how can we steer the progress in a better direction?
This seems to be the mantra of many old people who want to live in yesteryear...
35mm was replaced by infinitely more storable, editable and storageable digital media not to mention many many more people can share video's and movies than the 35mm crowd. Not to mention 35mm has a really crappy shelf life.
I for one appreciate (for example) the ability of my employer to deposit directly into my bank account instead of waiting until payday and then having to go to the bank to deposit it and wait for the check to clear.
I thank the advancement of technology to allow me to Skype with my grandkids in Japan rather than send a snailmail once a week or month to them with a couple of photographs.
I thank the advancement of technology to allow me to follow news reporting around the world rather than just from a couple of biased media networks.
I thank the advancement of technology to allow me to shop around and see what other people say on the Internet about the products I contemplate purchasing.
Like it or not there is no stopping technology from advancing and at a exponential rate. Honestly it amazes me how many people do not understand the impact technology advancing at a exponential rate will have on society in the next 16 years.
Having projected 35mm and 70mm movies, it has its problems. Weight, scratches, color timing, toxic and expensive chemicals for production and developing, and short lifespan are just a few of the problems. In the past few years, digital advance to the point that it is time to retire it. The problem is that digital is too easily manipulated and the whole concept of long format film without advertisements and aimed at adults no longer viable.
It is a nightmare these days, but perhaps more along the lines of "Brazil." We left Orwell in the dust back in 2001, and even back in 1984 major portions of his book by the same name were already true.
Problem is it's so bad that it sometimes makes me physically ill. Maybe I'm irrational and can get someone to help me embrace the advances. I feel doomed. And I'm not really an old person. I just had dreams when I was young that were crushed because of these things happening.
I'm kind of having the blues right now, and it is preventing me from living my life.
This seems to be the mantra of many old people who want to live in yesteryear...
35mm was replaced by infinitely more storable, editable and storageable digital media not to mention many many more people can share video's and movies than the 35mm crowd. Not to mention 35mm has a really crappy shelf life.
I for one appreciate (for example) the ability of my employer to deposit directly into my bank account instead of waiting until payday and then having to go to the bank to deposit it and wait for the check to clear.
I thank the advancement of technology to allow me to Skype with my grandkids in Japan rather than send a snailmail once a week or month to them with a couple of photographs.
I thank the advancement of technology to allow me to follow news reporting around the world rather than just from a couple of biased media networks.
I thank the advancement of technology to allow me to shop around and see what other people say on the Internet about the products I contemplate purchasing.
Unfortunately, your view is in the minority among older people. Most older people I know hate technology. They hate skype. They hate online shopping. Some go as far as hating anything techie.
Take my office, for example. The assistant RE is an old guy in his 60's. He is so anti-technology that he won't accept anything that was printed out in a report. He believes a report is more genuine if it is completely hand written, hand drawn, etc. Late last year, the RE went out of state, leaving the old guy in charge. One of the guys here turned in a report with an excel spreadsheet. The old guy kicked it back to him telling him to rewrite everything by hand. Hand written calculations. Hand written everything. Lucky me, it wasn't me that had to deal with that. I had a different assignment at the time.
The RE and I have been working on a line of business software that will make everything easier for our engineers to work. Makes everything faster. And it will eliminate a lot of the common errors. The old guy I was talking about is all against it. He keeps asking questions like "how do we know the computer won't make a mistake...?". No matter how many times we keep trying to tell him that nobody is suggesting we let the computer do all the work, that our engineers would be doing the work with the new tool, he's still adamantly against using any sort of computer printout for a report. He keeps calling them fake reports.
It's always guys like this that keep industries from progressing.
Problem is it's so bad that it sometimes makes me physically ill. Maybe I'm irrational and can get someone to help me embrace the advances. I feel doomed. And I'm not really an old person. I just had dreams when I was young that were crushed because of these things happening.
I'm kind of having the blues right now, and it is preventing me from living my life.
I don't know how old you are but maybe you should go talk to someone about this fear. If the thought of new technology makes you ill that is not good and trust me you have seen nothing yet in terms of how we advance.
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I'm going to say "yes"
