Posted by: Anonymous Coward
on March 02, 2004 01:48 PM
The above reader makes a great point; namely, that technology has NOT made life "simpler" nor is it meant to. Good technology is complex, and makes life more complicated, but, in return, it extends human capabilities; it is powerful.
Modern medicine is another great example. In the medieval ages medicine involved the draining of bodily humours. It was a simple process. Modern medicine is infinitely more complex - consider that modern doctors have to spend a decade of their lives in training. There is no question that it has made doctors' lives more complicated, and those of patients as well, what with yearly physicals and vaccinations and such. But the result is that, today, medicine is far more powerful and flexible than it was in the medieval ages.
And furthermore, it isn't fair to say that all of this complexity is hidden from the "end-user" of medicine. The patient has to learn about vaccines in order to make educated decisions about which ones he wants to give his children. He has to learn about doses of medicine in order to take the right amount, and so on and so forth. A user of CUPS doesn't need to learn how to program C, but he does need to at least learn how CUPS is set up. That's not asking more of him than is right and fair.
Learn about Linux
Download Linux
Get Linux help
to further that great analogy...
Posted by: Anonymous Coward on March 02, 2004 01:48 PMModern medicine is another great example. In the medieval ages medicine involved the draining of bodily humours. It was a simple process. Modern medicine is infinitely more complex - consider that modern doctors have to spend a decade of their lives in training. There is no question that it has made doctors' lives more complicated, and those of patients as well, what with yearly physicals and vaccinations and such. But the result is that, today, medicine is far more powerful and flexible than it was in the medieval ages.
And furthermore, it isn't fair to say that all of this complexity is hidden from the "end-user" of medicine. The patient has to learn about vaccines in order to make educated decisions about which ones he wants to give his children. He has to learn about doses of medicine in order to take the right amount, and so on and so forth. A user of CUPS doesn't need to learn how to program C, but he does need to at least learn how CUPS is set up. That's not asking more of him than is right and fair.
#