Re: TI-89 virtue email needed


[Prev][Next][Index][Thread]

Re: TI-89 virtue email needed



>Science fiction often depicts a society entirely dependend on computers, in
>which the people themselves have forgotten everything.  I can think of at
>least two Star Trek episodes alone with this topic.  So, how do we make
things
>convenient by allowing calculators, yet still ensure learning takes place?
>And as the available technology increases, where do we draw the line, and
how
>do we know when to move it?

Wow!  A good, intelligent discussion going on here!  One thing to ask
ourselves is, "Is the skill we lose important to our life?"  I remember 1972
when I was in 11th grade.  HP had just come out with the HP-35, the first
handheld scientific calculator and our math teachers were really worried
that we'd forget how to do square roots by hand.  Does anyone do square
roots with pencil and paper anymore?  Does anyone even remember how?  I
don't.  Some skills, such as whaling, calculating square roots or making
soap are being lost but does it really matter?  These things were once vital
to survival for many people but today they're irrelevant skills.  If you
told our great grandparents that virtually no one today knows how to make
soap, they'd have a fit!  "How do you keep clean?"  Perhaps some of the
skills we consider vital today will fall into the same category in the
future.  The line will move itself when society as a whole is ready for it
to move.  There will always be people like the Luddites who couldn't accept
technological change but they will only slow down change by a small
fraction.  The change will happen.  It's up to us to be ready.

Tom Lake


Follow-Ups: References: