Cool stuff we take for granted

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by Easy E

I also recall reading that a single issue of Wall St Journal today has more information than people who lived in 1900 would have received in their entire lifetime.

I think you should question your source on this one. Newspapers printed a lot of information in 1900 and books were common as rain. People had access to a lot of information back then, they just had to pick it up on their local street corner instead of on their phone.

[Fleetlord]

Cell Phones.

It comes to light every time I have family and friends come over from the UK and they absolutely will not upgrade their mobile plan to work in the USA. They just use WIFI and WhatsAPP. It's almost impossible to plan and coordinate anything. They won't even get a burner phone and set it up. It's a huge PITA

Yes, I am a pre cellphone person and had the pager and payphone deal, but it sucked then and since that infrastructure of payphone is long gone now, it is almost impossible to live in modern society with out it.

[Easy E]

Originally Posted by Maleg

I think you should question your source on this one. Newspapers printed a lot of information in 1900 and books were common as rain. People had access to a lot of information back then, they just had to pick it up on their local street corner instead of on their phone.

Checks out

[Easy E]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Cell Phones.

It comes to light every time I have family and friends come over from the UK and they absolutely will not upgrade their mobile plan to work in the USA. They just use WIFI and WhatsAPP. It's almost impossible to plan and coordinate anything. They won't even get a burner phone and set it up. It's a huge PITA

Yes, I am a pre cellphone person and had the pager and payphone deal, but it sucked then and since that infrastructure of payphone is long gone now, it is almost impossible to live in modern society with out it.

Today’s cell phones are really amazing and really taken for granted. Could you (the general you) go a week without yours, two weeks?

[superdog]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Cell Phones.

It comes to light every time I have family and friends come over from the UK and they absolutely will not upgrade their mobile plan to work in the USA. They just use WIFI and WhatsAPP. It's almost impossible to plan and coordinate anything. They won't even get a burner phone and set it up. It's a huge PITA

Yes, I am a pre cellphone person and had the pager and payphone deal, but it sucked then and since that infrastructure of payphone is long gone now, it is almost impossible to live in modern society with out it.

good point. very true.

[SOG DIVER]

Firefighters are in planes a lot in Montana and many National Forests. They are called Smoke Jumpers.
The parachute is an amazing piece of equipment. Even when it strikes the ground, it doesn't burst into flame like most aircraft do in crashes.


I wake up relieved in the morning..., not living in or west of Nevada...then I check my reliable Swiss mechanical watch to make sure it is still CST or MST.

Just returned from Ireland, visiting Belfast and the Free State. The Irish do not spend a great deal of time on their oxymoron phones
like our below 29 somethings do... they are actually enjoying life and family.

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by Easy E

Checks out

I think your AI is hallucinating. Quantum energy was discovered in 1900. Not everyone back then was Max Planck, but people were inventing a lot of technology that is still in use today. And it was every day people, like the Wright brothers, that were coming up with all these great ideas.

[Fleetlord]

Originally Posted by Easy E

Today’s cell phones are really amazing and really taken for granted. Could you (the general you) go a week without yours, two weeks?

Not at all. I wouldn't leave the house without it at all.

[alex.cicollo]

Dogs. Old school cool!

[Krash]

Originally Posted by Easy E

Checks out

That is totally believable.

Real time information from across the globe vs limited information that was days, weeks, or even months old. And the further away you lived from a big city, the more limited the information was. Not everyone had access to the New York Times or Philadelphia Inquirer back then. Let’s face it. The rural newspapers were no match for the big city newspapers.

Plus, the literacy rate was only about 20% back then. Today, the literacy rate is close to 90%. So, limited information and a limited percentage of people that could actually consume the information.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Krash]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Cell Phones.

Absolutely.

There is the communication aspect, which is amazing. Also, news and information, which is also amazing.

But it’s so much more than that. My entire music collection is now on my phone. I bank with my phone. I make payments with my phone at the grocery store. I store plane tickets and board flights with my phone.

I get weather alerts. I control security cameras. I control lighting in my house. I can take pictures with it.

I could spend the next 30 minutes listing things…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[1st amg]

Remote Car Starters….for crappy weather like this, car warms up, it turns on heated seats and heated steering wheel. Heaven!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ERH]

My grandfather was born 1895, he lived through all four years at the front of WWI, a builder, he incorporated new ideas, new products, electrification, elevators, air conditioning, automatic transmissions, television, and man in space and back. Antibiotics. The wonders he saw make us blush, his was an era of wonder.

[Speedbird-1]

Breathing…….even whilst we’re asleep.
Pretty cool, don’t you think.

[Blansky]

A lot of stuff we take for granted today is little more than a mild convenience but in reality we were able to accomplish them just fine 50 years ago.

Some things today are cool toys, some are huge advances and other things are a rapid slide backwards.

I always remind people that indoor plumbing and sewage disposal was a massive game changer on quality of life, hygiene etc etc and very few things we've come up since can match how it changed our lives for the better.

Try living without it for a few days.

[Krash]

Google


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Fleetlord

Cell Phones.

It comes to light every time I have family and friends come over from the UK and they absolutely will not upgrade their mobile plan to work in the USA. They just use WIFI and WhatsAPP. It's almost impossible to plan and coordinate anything. They won't even get a burner phone and set it up. It's a huge PITA

Yes, I am a pre cellphone person and had the pager and payphone deal, but it sucked then and since that infrastructure of payphone is long gone now, it is almost impossible to live in modern society with out it.

I’m curious … can’t you just buy a SIM card at the airport with a US number? We do this all the time when we travel in Europe.

[espanol]

Originally Posted by ERH

My grandfather was born 1895, he lived through all four years at the front of WWI, a builder, he incorporated new ideas, new products, electrification, elevators, air conditioning, automatic transmissions, television, and man in space and back. Antibiotics. The wonders he saw make us blush, his was an era of wonder.

Well said. Modernity really started within the last 200 years. The growth of our standard of living has jumped exponentially since then. The curve would've been relatively flat for the thousands of years leading up to the last 200 or so. Pretty incredible to think about.

[BraveBold]

Fridges/freezers. Electricity. Rule of law.

[BraveBold]

Originally Posted by Maleg

I think you should question your source on this one. Newspapers printed a lot of information in 1900 and books were common as rain. People had access to a lot of information back then, they just had to pick it up on their local street corner instead of on their phone.

I am sure it is in reference to the “typical” person. In which case I absolutely believe it, so long as we excluded repetitive, localized “information” (eg the color of the corner store’s walls, etc).

[BraveBold]

Originally Posted by Maleg

I think your AI is hallucinating. Quantum energy was discovered in 1900. Not everyone back then was Max Planck, but people were inventing a lot of technology that is still in use today. And it was every day people, like the Wright brothers, that were coming up with all these great ideas.

See my response above. AI uses the word “likely” but this just means the typical person.

A professor at a major university pre-1900 would have access to far more information, and many would have digested it in volumes. I enjoyed browsing the archives at Columbia University when I attended graduate school there. The extent of 19th century and pre-19th century material is immense. Tens or hundreds of thousands of books.

But the typical person didn’t have access to a library at that time, was not college educated, was not high school educated and had limited other avenues for information. So if you assume a lot of information includes breadth and depth, and not sheer quantity of local data, I think the AI summary is accurate, if imprecisely articulated.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by 1st amg

Remote Car Starters….for crappy weather like this, car warms up, it turns on heated seats and heated steering wheel. Heaven!



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It should be mandatory equipment up here brother

[Krash]

Originally Posted by BraveBold

But the typical person didn’t have access to a library at that time, was not college educated, was not high school educated and had limited other avenues for information. So if you assume a lot of information includes breadth and depth, and not sheer quantity of local data, I think the AI summary is accurate, if imprecisely articulated.

Yes, the literacy rate in 1900 was only about 20%.

Which reminds me…I recently saw a fascinating documentary about the BIC ball point pen. It came out in 1950. And the people that produced this video give BIC credit for significantly improving literacy rates on a global scale from 20% to 70%.

I didn’t realize it, but apparently most people didn’t have access to fountain pens. They were considered a luxury item, and BIC’s pen was revolutionary. Suddenly just about everyone could have a pen and write.

BIC’s ball point pen is perhaps one of the most important inventions in history, and most people today are completely unaware of its significance.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Tri-Tip]

Originally Posted by Krash

That is totally believable.

Real time information from across the globe vs limited information that was days, weeks, or even months old. And the further away you lived from a big city, the more limited the information was. Not everyone had access to the New York Times or Philadelphia Inquirer back then. Let’s face it. The rural newspapers were no match for the big city newspapers.

Plus, the literacy rate was only about 20% back then. Today, the literacy rate is close to 90%. So, limited information and a limited percentage of people that could actually consume the information.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think there was a benefit to not having real time information...outlets knew they could only publish their information once, so it better be right. Outlets today throw out unverified information knowing they can easily correct later, unfortunately, sometimes doing damage with the initial info.

Same with software, when you used to buy a software package and it came in 24 floppy disks, you installed it, and it worked because it was better tested because the software companies knew it was expensive to put out a bug-fix, so they made sure it was right. Now by the time you download an install something, there is already an update.

[Krash]

Originally Posted by Tri-Tip

I think there was a benefit to not having real time information...outlets knew they could only publish their information once, so it better be right. Outlets today throw out unverified information knowing they can easily correct later, unfortunately, sometimes doing damage with the initial info.

Same with software, when you used to buy a software package and it came in 24 floppy disks, you installed it, and it worked because it was better tested because the software companies knew it was expensive to put out a bug-fix, so they made sure it was right. Now by the time you download an install something, there is already an update.

Maybe for you, there is a benefit to not having access to real-time information, but not for me.


Also, back in the 80s, I had to fly around the country to deliver software on magnetic tape. We couldn't deploy the software any other way. That was one of my first real jobs...

As someone who produced software for a living, all I can say is thank goodness we could deploy software without relying on floppy disks or magnetic tape. And even when we did, that still didn't eliminate bugs and defects that we had to fix...

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Tri-Tip

I think there was a benefit to not having real time information...outlets knew they could only publish their information once, so it better be right. Outlets today throw out unverified information knowing they can easily correct later, unfortunately, sometimes doing damage with the initial info...

I agree with you. Journalistic integrity … that genie is long gone.

[Krash]

Originally Posted by brandrea

I agree with you. Journalistic integrity … that genie is long gone.

Journalistic integrity has been a problem since the printing press was invented. Newspapers have been publishing half-assed stories since day one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by Krash

Journalistic integrity has been a problem since the printing press was invented. Newspapers have been publishing half-assed stories since day one.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You should start a new topic …

“Where do you access reliable, fact checked l news”?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Krash]

Originally Posted by brandrea

You should start a new topic …

“Where do you access reliable, fact checked l news”?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My point is that the press didn’t always get things right long before real-time distribution of news and information.

Famous example:




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Maleg]

Originally Posted by BraveBold

See my response above. AI uses the word “likely” but this just means the typical person.

A professor at a major university pre-1900 would have access to far more information, and many would have digested it in volumes. I enjoyed browsing the archives at Columbia University when I attended graduate school there. The extent of 19th century and pre-19th century material is immense. Tens or hundreds of thousands of books.

But the typical person didn’t have access to a library at that time, was not college educated, was not high school educated and had limited other avenues for information. So if you assume a lot of information includes breadth and depth, and not sheer quantity of local data, I think the AI summary is accurate, if imprecisely articulated.

But the typical person had other information that was just as useful. Where does your food come from (other than the grocery store)? A typical person knew where food came from. A typical person was in tune with his surroundings and had a wealth of information to manage his day. Where machines do much of our thinking today, the typical person had to know a tremendous amount of information to put food on the table and provide for his family.

The AI assumes that the only information worth knowing is information in the WSJ, which is a fundemental fallacy in it's thinking.