The Computer Chip

[LewPaper]

If it were within my power I'd go back in time and destroy all references to and work on the computer chip.

I think in the short time it's been with us its virtually changed and destroyed all societies and cultures but add to that the increasing rate of change I'm somehow pleased I won't be around to see its ultimate result.

Certainly its brought with it gains as well as losses; gains in respect of accessibility to knowledge, improved health care and the like but I think the deficits far outweigh the advantages.

Somehow the human race managed to survive quite well for thousands of years without it so I'm sure it could've staggered through a few more. We've always been able to invent, discover, adopt, adapt and overcome so we could still have enjoyed a good standard of life.

[LifeOnMars]

Can you please explain exactly how the computer has destroyed all societies and cultures? What are the defecites that outway technological advancement? How is your life worse off for being able to post here on answerbank using this horrible invention?
The human race also seemed to survive quite well before the invention of electricity but I doubt you would advocate the destruction of the power industry.....or would you????

[wildwood]

The computer gives me instant access to almost anything I want to know and saves me at least 4 hours per week with letters, paying bills, sourcing things I need etc., so I can spend more time on my hobbies and family. How can this be a bad thing?.

[VHG]

Every time you draw money out the hole in the wall of your bank you are using computer chips.

Every time you play a music CD or watch a film on DVD you are using computer chips.

If you take a picture with a digital camera you are using computer chips.

If you listen to music on an ipod or mp3 player you are using computer chips.

If you talk on your mobile phone you are using computer chips.

When you drive your car you are using many computer chips.

When you watch TV via freeview, Sky or Virgin you are using computer chips.

When you go shopping and your products are scanned it is using computer chips.

If you use a sat nav or GPS to find where you are it is using computer chips.

You will also find many of your devices at home have computer chips in them - many washing machines, dishwashers, microwaves, freezers, fridges, ovens.

Without even knowing about it I bet you have over 100 computer chips in your house.

I think you may notice if they all went away.

[ACtheTROLL]

I agree with lew

>>>The computer gives me instant access to almost >>>anything I want
this will be the last trump of humanity .... I want it all and I want it now

people driving and walking round with mobiles stuck to their ear
... total panic that e-mail has not worked for 5 mins

I don't want to be on call 24x7 - I don't want to hear details of aunty Lil's piles shouted around the train carrage

the sad pride in the tally of anonymous "friends" collected on facebook
all sad sad signs that we are ceasing to work as a community

I don't want to rip vhg ... but 90% of those examples still worked 20 years ago - before it was chips with everything
and the other 10% I'd gladly do without

I lurv 'puters ... they have let me pay my way for more than 20 years ....

my chippy pacemaker comes in handy as well ...

I think I'll probably hang round as long as possible to see how it turns out though

[wildwood]

ACtheTROLL, you are taking a piece of text out of a paragraph to change the meaning to suit your purpose.

The computer gives me instant access to almost anything I want to know etc. etc. This is entirely different to your somewhat stupid remark.

[LewPaper]

Thanks for your contributions fellas but nothing you've said convinces me I'm wrong.
Life on Mars - It's increased the gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' leading to increased crime, both street and domestic. It's produced instant - anything you like. I agree there's a lot of benefits created by it, but there's also an awful lot of negatives as well using the same route. It's given everyone unrestricted access to everything - as in everything else the vast, vast majority of people use it wisely and sensibly, but a very small proportion use it for nefarious crimes, degrading practices and the rest under its anonymity. Yes it means we can do everything faster, but what do we do with the time that it saves? Why spend hundreds of pounds for equipment we don't need just to save a few hours - where's the advantage in speed? The criticisms VHG expresses only gives credence to my argument. In fact we could go back to using words instead of alpha-numeric abbreviations. We still enjoyed music, took photos, spoke on the phone and my Morris 1000's heart never missed a beat.
The consensus of opinion seems mainly time-based and if only considering the amount of crime that's been generated I can't say that's a fair exchange.

[beso]

Computer chips have made a lot of machines work better and more efficiently thus consuming less resources.

Indeed without computer controlled production equipment a lot of people would be back to doing menial work.

[LewPaper]

By the way wildwood - disagreement isn't synonymous with stupidity, not unless you're incredibly arrogant.

[VHG]

I should say that even though I listed all the uses of computer chips in my append above, I dont think its development is all good.

For my 22 year old daughter, the biggest disaster in her life is when she cannot get a mobile phone signal. A couple of years ago she moaned at me about where we were going on holdiday as the mobile signal there was bad.

My 30 year old son openly admits he has never read a book in his life (my ex-wife brought him up !).

He has a huge TV in his house with Sky, and it is on all the time. When I go there and talk about the various history and documentary channels on Sky he looks at me as though I am mad.

I remember a question here on answrebank a year or so back about a girl who wanted to take THREE mobile phone on holiday so she could keep in touch with her various friends.

How sad is that. It used to be that we went on holiday to get away from the normal routine.

I was at Drayton Manor theme park last year, and a family were sitting round a table eating their lunch, and the dad was sitting there "working" on his laptop.

Similar to people who have to take their laptop on holiday with them.

Or the idiots who follow their satnavs without THINKING and drive over a cliff or go to the totally wrong town with the same name.

So while it has brought benefits, there are also many negatives.

And like ACtheTroll, computers gave me 30 years of highly paid employment.

[VHG]

And here is the idiot who nearly drive over a cliff because he followed his sat nav blindly

http://tinyurl.com/c3lb7w

[LewPaper]

Thanks for your very balanced response VHG - it made interesting reading. Probably one of the few benefits of this computer.

[ACtheTROLL]

wild

I don't see that the omission of those two words changes the content whatsoever ...
given that you went on to say;
and saves me at least 4 hours per week with letters, paying bills, sourcing things I need etc

as far as I can see "to know" becomes redundant

however - given that I was quoting your remark ... I'll accept that it was indeed stupid

[LewPaper]

wildwood - Don't you think it'd be more beneficial to keep to the use of computers in general than to zero in on what one person does?

By the way, one other reason I forgot to mention is the anti-social aspects of the computer. Shouldn't we all be out there, mixing, joining in, socialising rather than huddled independently typing at a keyboard? Everything can be done from home at the cost of social interaction. Like the calculator, it started as an aid but has metamorphosed into a dependency.

[fo3nix]

This is daft.

It's just technology.

The same can be said of any technology.

Railways, the industrial revolution, everything.

Progress is progress. There are always some that don't like it.

"omehow the human race managed to survive quite well for thousands of years without it"

And lived to an average age of about 60. I guarantee that microelectronics has helped you survive longer than you would have done without it.

If you don't like it, then don't use it. It's not forced on you.

[VHG]

>And lived to an average age of about 60.

I am not sure it was even 60.

In the Victorian era in London (with the smog, cholera etc) if people survived infancy (which many did not) then getting to 40 was considered good.

[LewPaper]

Zacs & fo - short answer no. Don't you think it's undesirable for all our lives to be dependent on a 13-amp fuse? WIth one power surge, accident, calamity knowledge, records, financial dealings, every record of everything could be erased; and with our dependency on the micro-chip no longer would we be able to accomplish what we do now - why? because we've kept up with developments regarding technology to such an extent that it nows performs the tasks we used to and without it we're now lost.

FO - the industrial revolution taught us how we can make machines to make life easier, not to take over. The railways? there's always an alternative means of transport but how often have you heard that you can't be helped because the computers are down. Imagine that permanently.

Zacs - Irony, hypocritical? no, why should it? What's hypocritical about questioning a method of communication whilst using it? Never written a letter yet complained about the service, questioned items on the phone bill over the phone?

Do keep up.

[LewPaper]

. . . and FO - it IS forced on me as it is on you and everyone else living. Just hope you never go into hospital where they've erased your medical records. Paper can be filed away safely, stored securely and in fire-proof containers. DVDs are left on trains and buses and on laptops. If you'd kept up with the stream you'd have realised that it is this very compulsion which makes it unhealthy.

[LewPaper]

Why? I think you're missing the point. I'm not against computers, micro-chips and the like - I'm against our dependency on them and the uses we put them to. Using a home computer is ok, only in as much that it doesn't take over from human interaction. Is it a complete coincidence that the young fella in Germany, a while back, went through his school firing at random just as he would in a computer game?