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Post by Regolyth on May 23, 2014 9:00:54 GMT -5
I think the biggest problem with our way of life is that we are hyper-specialized. ... but if a catastrophe occurs, most people cannot produce their own food... Are we hyper-specialized, or just ignorant? I think a lot of people just don't have common sense about how things work (think back to that article I posted from Yahoo the other day). I think the basics just aren't there for a large portion of the people. They should be, but aren't. Perhaps partly due to society, partly due to stupidity... mostly due to not caring (sorry, I have very little faith in my fellow man these days). But I'm just speaking of basics for the above. We are a specialized society though. Why do I bother knowing how to change my oil when I can pay $20 for some other guy to do it? It's not a hard task, but it's something I just don't take the time to do because I'd rather play a video game or watch TV (I can change my oil, FYI). We don't take the time to learn to do small tasks. We don't think bad things will happen to us and some just don't care. I pride myself on being a handyman. When something breaks in my house, I fix it. Perhaps it's my way of thinking. Carpentry just makes sense to me. I gutted and remodeled two of my bathrooms with little to no help from no one else. I only called my uncle for advice on the type of mortar to lay for the tile and looked up the occasional item on the internet. I did everything else on my own. Back in high school, when my computer became slow, I opened it up and played it's innards. Not long after, I bought computer parts and built a new machine with no direction. I till the ground and plant my own garden as well. I don't know what's wrong with me; I like knowing how to do things and being self-sufficient.  Ain't logical. Cuttin' on his own face, rapin' and murdering - Hell, I'll kill a man in a fair fight... or if I think he's gonna start a fair fight, or if he bothers me, or if there's a woman, or if I'm gettin' paid - mostly only when I'm gettin' paid. But these Reavers... last ten years they show up like the bogeyman from stories. Eating people alive? Where's that get fun? At first I was like "what the heck?!" I thought you were saying it. I reread it (after eight words in) and was like "Oh, maybe that guy from Argentina wrote that in his book." So I reread it again (after 17 words in) and was like "Wait, what hell is he talking about?!" So I decided to just read it and figure it out later. I got 27 words in and realized it sounded very familiar, from a movie I'd seen - which made me feel a hundred times better that Oat wouldn't do any of those things.  After 32 words in, I figured out where it was from and laughed at my stupidity... and Jayne. |
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Post by Morreion on May 23, 2014 16:59:35 GMT -5
Good old Jayne! Zoë: How much ammo we got left? Jayne Cobb: Three full mags, and my swinging cod! Hyper-specialized brings on ignorance. Someone once wrote a blog post about how in the age of microprocessors, things like iPods, smartphones and PCs work like 'magic'. It used to be in the mid-20th century the majority of men worked on their cars and understood how they worked. That went for most mechanical devices. Now, in the computer age, things work without most people understanding how they work. This may be a bad thing, as it seems we are further away from practical reality than ever before. We've lost touch with a lot of those practical things- good you're still practical enough, Rego, that'll come in handy if things go to hell! |
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Post by Oatik on May 24, 2014 11:22:57 GMT -5
I have never changed the oil in my car by myself...ever. I do think I could do it, although oil would probably be rolling down the driveway...
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Post by Regolyth on Jun 14, 2014 13:24:56 GMT -5
It used to be in the mid-20th century the majority of men worked on their cars and understood how they worked. That went for most mechanical devices. Now, in the computer age, things work without most people understanding how they work. This may be a bad thing, as it seems we are further away from practical reality than ever before. We've lost touch with a lot of those practical things- good you're still practical enough, Rego, that'll come in handy if things go to hell! That's a really good point. And even if one did want to work on some things, it's almost impossible to figure out without proper education. Back in the day, you could just figure out how things worked. It was practical - this moves that, that operates this. But now with computer controlling so much in a vehicle, it's hard to do some of that. It's both marvelous and unfortunate. I have never changed the oil in my car by myself...ever. I do think I could do it, although oil would probably be rolling down the driveway... Same here. I'm fairly certain I could do it, I just never have. My car is currently in need of an oil change. Perhaps I'll go out and do it on this nice day.  |
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After 32 words in, I figured out where it was from and laughed at my stupidity... and Jayne.
