Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 exptools 1/6/84; site ihu1h.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass From: parnass@ihu1h.UUCP (Bob Parnass, AJ9S) Newsgroups: net.college,net.flame Subject: Re: Does someone REALLY belive this? Message-ID: <393@ihu1h.UUCP> Date: Wed, 7-Nov-84 09:12:59 EST Article-I.D.: ihu1h.393 Posted: Wed Nov 7 09:12:59 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 9-Nov-84 06:21:56 EST References: <1668@ucf-cs.UUCP> Organization: AT&T Bell Labs, Naperville, IL Lines: 54 > > [] > > A letter to the editor. "The Orlando Sentinel" Monday, November 5, 1984 > Page A-14: > > TIME TO USE YOUR BRAINS > > THE BRAIN, the most specialized and intricate organ in the body, is > being abused. We just are not using it any more. Machines are doing > our thinking for us. > > Computers are one of the problems. They were designed to take the load > of facts and figures off our backs. Instead, they are practically doing > all the thinking for us. ...... > Why don't we start calculating what these machines are doing? If we don't, > we may have scientific and sophisticated equipment with no one knowledgeable > enough to use it. > > Helen Alexander > Winter Park > > > Well? Any comments? By the way, Winter Park is a small town north of Orlando, > mostly suburb and 'higher income'. I personally would like to ask this lady > to multiply two 100X100 matrices together, and see which year she gets them > done....(;->) ...... > Ken Hollis Ken, I agree with the woman who authored the article. I think you have misinterpreted her suggestion, based on her use of the phrase "start calculating..." The fact that she lives in one town rather than another not pertinent to the thought expressed. Let's discuss the point on its own merits, please. Now to the point: I think the heavy use of the simple calculator has displaced the ability to perform simple arithmetic. If you doubt this, just watch the young clerks in the store try to perform a calculation manually when the electronic cash register is out of order. It's embarrassing! P.S. - I'm not anti-technology, and have more than a slight passing interest in computers and electronics :-) -- =============================================================================== Bob Parnass, Bell Telephone Laboratories - ihnp4!ihu1h!parnass - (312)979-5414