Quote:
Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
Tell that to hospitals, stock exchanges, multinational corporations, research labs, etc.
IBM PS/2 (Circa 1988)
8086 Intel processor (16-bit)--4.77 to 10 MHz (Similar to a Super Nintendo)
72-pin RAM SIMM (256k or 1MB)
640×480 with 16 colors, and 320×200 with 256 colors
3.5" floppy drive (1.44mb disks)
Hard drive (optional due to high cost)
Windows 2.0
It was either this, paper & calculators, or $400,000 mainframes (plus training, plus technicians, plus maintenance....) Even then, a mainframe at that time would be 32-bit and had 2 GB of RAM (Yes, the entire room-sized machine).
Now try going back 30 years. I'm sure most workers would have done everything by hand, typewriter, etc.
Most of the effect of technology in our lives happens behind the scenes. But, on a personal level, I think it has made our lives more complex. It encourages us to do more, since we can be more efficient.
I don't think it has made us lazy, per se, though it might appear so. Just because something is easier to do, it doesn't mean we're being lazy. We are far more productive per capita now than we were 30 years ago. Trust me.
Would you call that lazy?
Or... to be fair.... what would you mean by being lazy?
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This is a good sketch of the situation. Even if you just take one ubiquitous computer application, such as Excel (or Lotus 123, or any other spreadsheet app) and compare what we do with it now in a typical day. Just go back to the late '80's never mind 30 years ago, but just try to do then what we do now.
I've created my own project management tools, automated tax forms, vacation budget forms, presentations with pie charts/graphs, record album indices all knds of thing with this tool that would have been pencil & paper 30 years ago.
Does this make us lazy? More like, does it provide us with a tool to do things quicker and more accurately. I can't imagine the speed we have improved and effort that we have replaced with this (not so) simple little tool.