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Author Does the Mac make you stupid? (Read 16566 times)
cantonjohn
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on: February 23, 2023, 12:09

I’m probably too stupid to understand this 1990 article, having used used Macs for 30 years. But it does make a case that by making something very easy, you get stupider. Much like cars make travel easy, but make the body flabby. Turns out computers were less a ‘bicycle for the mind’, but an SUV. Spell checkers, Siri, emojis etc add to this anti-literate trend. We’ve outsourced our mind.

https://imgur.io/a/dzlLD
68040
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Reply #1 on: February 23, 2023, 12:25

I had to endure just this kind of silliness when they forbade us the use of pocket calculators in school. By that "reasoning" we'd still be hunting our food on foot and be sleeping under the open sky w/o a fireplace or a roof to call our own.

Becoming more effective is a sign of being smart and the use of tools is a hallmark of all higher species.

The failure on the other hand to distinguish between being more productive and letting others do all the work for you (which will cause you to loose your abilities), now that is a sign of being truly ... mentally challenged, as its being called these days.
Last Edit: February 28, 2023, 00:21 by 68040
Bolkonskij
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Reply #2 on: February 23, 2023, 14:59

Can't open it on my 8600. Too bad. Could you possibly re-upload it on revontulet.org so everyone can read it? Thank you, appreciated :-)
cantonjohn
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Reply #3 on: February 23, 2023, 16:03

http://revontulet.org/2023/02/23/0D9A11FD-7F85-4EEE-84FA-3B347FE1C5F9.jpeg
cballero
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Reply #4 on: February 23, 2023, 19:19

Appreciate the article, John :) I'm throwing in a link to the whole issue (modern browser needed) as well for those who prefer the PDF format (it should be easy as pie to view on an 8600) ;)

https://vintageapple.org/macworld/pdf/MacWorld_9011_November_1990.pdf
Neal_SE30
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Reply #5 on: February 23, 2023, 22:20

It is kind of true. My first car was pretty poor, no syncromesh on 1st/2nd gear, terrible drum brakes, carburetors that needed tweaking weekly, 40hp and less kit than a knife and folk yet you had to actually drive it, now i barely remember driving to work at all with all the safety features, car drives itself.

Same with old computers especially windows machines. Doing something as simple as putting in a sound card could be complicated, bias settings, dos settings and windows drivers etc etc Now it’s nothing more that plugging in a usb or a wireless button. Makes your mind wonder to useless stuff rather than focus. Trying to my get my se/30 running again has been a challenge over the last 3-4 weekends, I forgot how to do everything! Setting up my midi took weeks to configure as well. A lot more pleasurable when you finally do though. Satisfying.
Neal_SE30
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Reply #6 on: February 23, 2023, 23:58

Loving the pdf Cballero. I especially liked the unmouse advert. Must have been one of the first trackpads ever made. Great seeing all that stuff now 30 years later. Just as I remember it.
cballero
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Reply #7 on: February 24, 2023, 00:10

Same!! :D

I dive right into nostalgia flipping through the pages and I don't remember reading that article; it was a refreshing perspective, especially now well over thirty years later!
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