Comments on: Ten Ways Technology Can Hurt Us http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/ ::Technology is Power:: Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:06:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: The Rise of the Nano Factories : PaulTech Network http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/comment-page-1/#comment-2589 The Rise of the Nano Factories : PaulTech Network Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:23:32 +0000 http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/29/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/#comment-2589 [...] up!  Jokes aside, there will be many innovations that come online, but there is always the rule of unintended consequences for technology.  It’s hard for people to understand just how revolutionary such nano factories can be, so [...] [...] up!  Jokes aside, there will be many innovations that come online, but there is always the rule of unintended consequences for technology.  It’s hard for people to understand just how revolutionary such nano factories can be, so [...]

]]> By: Administrator http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/comment-page-1/#comment-403 Administrator Thu, 31 Aug 2006 01:16:10 +0000 http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/29/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/#comment-403 Great comments all! The happy medium I want strike personally is to use technology thoughtfully. It's so easy to let the tail wag the dog! I'm reminded of that part in the movie "Office Space," where the guys are in the field beating a piece of electronics, putting technology back in its place. Technology is power, but sometimes it's good to see natural power - in people, in nature, etc. Great comments all! The happy medium I want strike personally is to use technology thoughtfully. It’s so easy to let the tail wag the dog! I’m reminded of that part in the movie “Office Space,” where the guys are in the field beating a piece of electronics, putting technology back in its place. Technology is power, but sometimes it’s good to see natural power – in people, in nature, etc.

]]> By: Scott Collins http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/comment-page-1/#comment-402 Scott Collins Wed, 30 Aug 2006 21:38:54 +0000 http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/29/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/#comment-402 Paul (& others)- Very good stuff here. I have had similar thoughts and am really impressed w/ the way you broke it all down. I totally agree with "dad's" opinion that, like anything, we guard against being made the victim -- a great way to say that. Regarding mroonie's 1st paragraph, I would like to add the additional idea that not only does new technology lead to higher expectations, but it introduces additional opportunity for error (due to inherent imperfection in every additional step of the process). So, now that I have a computer, I can do more in a day and I schedule accordingly. Unfortunately, there is always "that day" when the internet is down, my power supply died, the upgrade I did to my OS suddenly caused another piece of software to NOT work correctly, ... So, our schedules are typically built around the assumption that things will go as planned. This works great when we allow 15 minutes to walk down the street to meet a friend for dinner -- very little to go wrong (i.e. we would have to fall ill or be injured en route). But, introduce a car and things get trickier (e.g. traffic and auto reliability are added to the mix of things that can go wrong). In the case of technology, the opportunities for error on vastly increased. Thankfully, the reliability of individual components is very very high. Any way, it is something I have wanted to discuss, and it is cool to have this outlet. I am sure there is a catch-all term for what I am describing, but I am not sure what it is. Ironically, I am glad to be able to use this functioning computer, via a network, to reach the internet, to see my.yahoo, to get my rss feeds, to see Paul's posting, to follow the link, to register this post! Paul (& others)-
Very good stuff here. I have had similar thoughts and am really impressed w/ the way you broke it all down. I totally agree with “dad’s” opinion that, like anything, we guard against being made the victim — a great way to say that.
Regarding mroonie’s 1st paragraph, I would like to add the additional idea that not only does new technology lead to higher expectations, but it introduces additional opportunity for error (due to inherent imperfection in every additional step of the process).
So, now that I have a computer, I can do more in a day and I schedule accordingly. Unfortunately, there is always “that day” when the internet is down, my power supply died, the upgrade I did to my OS suddenly caused another piece of software to NOT work correctly, … So, our schedules are typically built around the assumption that things will go as planned. This works great when we allow 15 minutes to walk down the street to meet a friend for dinner — very little to go wrong (i.e. we would have to fall ill or be injured en route). But, introduce a car and things get trickier (e.g. traffic and auto reliability are added to the mix of things that can go wrong). In the case of technology, the opportunities for error on vastly increased. Thankfully, the reliability of individual components is very very high.
Any way, it is something I have wanted to discuss, and it is cool to have this outlet. I am sure there is a catch-all term for what I am describing, but I am not sure what it is.
Ironically, I am glad to be able to use this functioning computer, via a network, to reach the internet, to see my.yahoo, to get my rss feeds, to see Paul’s posting, to follow the link, to register this post!

]]> By: mroonie http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/comment-page-1/#comment-401 mroonie Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:17:14 +0000 http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/29/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/#comment-401 Dad's always right..... =) I agree that technology has harmed us in more ways than we would like to admit. Everybody is familiar with the idea that although technology is supposed to make things more convenient for us, in reality, all it does is raise expectaions of how much an individual can do within a given amount of time. With technology, we're always expected to do things faster. Living in this fast paced environment is deterimental because it limits how much care we put into our actions. We say we're familiar with the idea of the internet and databases, but I'm not afraid to admit that it's all very abstract to me; outside of my understanding. This leads to many of the problems mentioned in this post. We assume that any email we sent just gets tossed into oblivion and no one of importance will find it. We assume that keeping information on a computer is safe and secure because we don't see anybody else log into it. The information we put online doesn't have to be a <a href="http://www.essentialsecurity.com/Documents/article11.htm" rel="nofollow">public announcement</a> or something that controls you. But it will be if we continue to not educate ourselves about the issues we are facing today with digital technology in our lives. Dad’s always right….. =)

I agree that technology has harmed us in more ways than we would like to admit. Everybody is familiar with the idea that although technology is supposed to make things more convenient for us, in reality, all it does is raise expectaions of how much an individual can do within a given amount of time. With technology, we’re always expected to do things faster.

Living in this fast paced environment is deterimental because it limits how much care we put into our actions. We say we’re familiar with the idea of the internet and databases, but I’m not afraid to admit that it’s all very abstract to me; outside of my understanding. This leads to many of the problems mentioned in this post. We assume that any email we sent just gets tossed into oblivion and no one of importance will find it. We assume that keeping information on a computer is safe and secure because we don’t see anybody else log into it.

The information we put online doesn’t have to be a public announcement or something that controls you. But it will be if we continue to not educate ourselves about the issues we are facing today with digital technology in our lives.

]]> By: Dad http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/comment-page-1/#comment-400 Dad Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:30:47 +0000 http://gopaultech.com/blog/2006/08/29/ten-ways-technology-can-hurt-us/#comment-400 It all comes down to whether technology controls you or vice-versa. If you can prioritize then you are in control. A friend once said "things are the way they are because you must like it that way, otherwise you would have changed it". Never be a victim. It all comes down to whether technology controls you or vice-versa. If you can prioritize then you are in control. A friend once said “things are the way they are because you must like it that way, otherwise you would have changed it”. Never be a victim.

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