has technology jumped the shark, or is it just me getting old

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

I love technology - like most men of a certain age, witnessed an incredible series of events, starting with putting a man on the moon where the computing power was less than what today's hand held calculator has.

The downside in my experience, is the interface to humans.

Exactly right

As Sammy's post shows, sometimes a knob is the right interface. Best is often, as they say, the enemy of good enough.

When I was flying flight test for the Navy the Human Factors folks were outstanding and an essential ingredient to successful sensor integration and software upgrades.

When I was at the Sikorsky factory the Comanche was still a program. I was involved in what were called "crew station working groups" on the Comanche cockpit and flight simulator. I spent hundreds of hours in the thing.

Their lead human factors person was incredible. The Comanche cockpit was the best design I have ever flown.

[legion]

There seems to be an impulse in many industries to give you something new rather than something functional.

I remember when MS Office hit a point that it had all of the features I needed, and I intuitively understood where to find them. It even told me the keyboard shortcuts! Then Microsoft decided to go to "ribbons". I still haven't found many of the features I used to use all the time.

Similarly, my e-mail program changed it's interface two years ago. Features that were useful were easy to find (like marking an e-mail unread). Now that feature is buried in a submenu and the old keyboard shortcut no longer works.

I purposefully buy cars with the fewest features anymore. My minivan has doors that we have to close ourselves (the horror!) and no built-in entertainment system. My car has a Ford Sync system, but as far as I can tell, I don't have to use it for anything. It has real radio and HVAC buttons. The more built-in electronics, the harder it is to use, the more expensive it is when it breaks, and the likelihood of breaking also goes up exponentially.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by JD159

AI this AI that, but the best we can really do is "what is the weather". Nothing about artificial intelligence is actually intelligent yet.

I think we're darned close. The Gen 1 Google self-driving car used 3-5 million lines of code to navigate.

The Gen2 car applied machine learning algorithms and used about 2000 lines of code to do the same thing better.

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by cstreit

I think we're darned close. The Gen 1 Google self-driving car used 3-5 million lines of code to navigate.

The Gen2 car applied machine learning algorithms and used about 2000 lines of code to do the same thing better.

A couple years ago everyone was convinced that toyota gas pedals were sticking and killing people left and right (almost everyone was convinced), Now we are going to put all our faith (and fate) into a computer to drive us around?
Tanks but no tanks.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

I've had people mock by flip phone until I tell them that my total bill (tax, tag, dealer prep...) is less than $35 per month and I have unlimited minutes whenever I need them.
What about going online? Forbidden in my secured office and we have desktops in the break room. Don't travel enough to make it worth it and I despise having to dodge people who are all over the road because they are staring at a computer screen instead of looking where they are going.
Want to send me a text? Just call and leave me a voicemail message. Too much work for you? Then it probably isn't worth my time to read about it. Too much detail? E-mail me.

Shop around. You can get a data plan for $35/mo from certain carriers.
You can also get a smartphone for under $100.
Having the internet at your fingertips is priceless in certain situations.

Staying willfully ignorant of all progress is throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

I've had people mock by flip phone until I tell them that my total bill (tax, tag, dealer prep...) is less than $35 per month and I have unlimited minutes whenever I need them.

I'm at $40 all in on T-Mobile, unlimited everything plus no data charges for using my phone as a hotpot which I tend to do often when traveling and working

[Por_sha911]

I've talked to people that have some of these lower priced smart phone plans. I don't need bad service, poor reception, spotty coverage, and throttling. As I've already stated I have no use for internet access 99.9 % of the time.
Choosing what works for me is not willful ignorance. I don't give a rip what is trendy or what others need. I do what works for me.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

A couple years ago everyone was convinced that toyota gas pedals were sticking and killing people left and right (almost everyone was convinced), Now we are going to put all our faith (and fate) into a computer to drive us around? Tanks but no tanks.

...and you trust the soccer mom applying makeup while cramming french fries down her screaming demon spawns throats while driving through traffic more? ..or the 16 year old texting her BFF while driving down the highway?

Do you ride commercial aircraft? (I think you know where I'm going).

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by cstreit

...and you trust the soccer mom applying makeup while cramming french fries down her screaming demon spawns throats while driving through traffic more? ..or the 16 year old texting her BFF while driving down the highway?

Do you ride commercial aircraft? (I think you know where I'm going).

i fly only when i have to and don't have much faith in it.

I trust ........................ me.

I can avoid idiots in other cars, been doing it for over 50 years.
I'm way too much of a control freak to get in a car that aint got no driver.


But, I wouldn't have a problem gettin my mom into one of those automobius cars, she's still driving and shouldn't be.
Macular degeneration or some such.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

i fly only when i have to and don't have much faith in it.

I trust ........................ me.

I can avoid idiots in other cars, been doing it for over 50 years.
I'm way too much of a control freak to get in a car that aint got no driver.


But, I wouldn't have a problem gettin my mom into one of those automobius cars, she's still driving and shouldn't be.
Macular degeneration or some such.

I'm going to get philosophical here... Hold on to your beret.

Control is an illusion. You can't control other people and they have the greatest potential to impact your life. Could be quite literally with the aforementioned teen blowing a stoplight. Point being that technology is advancing so fast that I think we can't quite grasp the potential right now... ...including self-driving cars.

FWIW I wouldn't get one either unless I was forced. Just saying, its likely inevitable. Imagine your insurance company jacking your rates to an un-affordable level because you're a much higher liability than "the computer" Plausible isn't it?

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

We can now drive a vehicle 100,000 miles with only adding gas and changing oil and air filters.

spark plugs that last forever, sealed transmissions, coolant systems that rarely need topping off, brakes that last nearly forever.

I remember always having a matchbook in the glove compartment because it was close to the .016" thickness required to gap the points.
I remember changing spark plugs every other year.
i remember oil going black after 1500 miles.
I remember having to adjust brakes to keep them from pulling to one side.
I remember having to check the tire pressure once a week because the paint on the steel rims was chipped and didn't seal perfectly.
I remember adding water to the radiator every month because it didn't have a plastic catch can.

No, the grass was definitely NOT greener back then.

Remember them? I have a 1947 Dodge. I live them!

[Por_sha911]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

Some of you have already theorized that updates are NSA inspired. Naw, they don't need that. They can already listen, watch, monitor everything you do anyway.
Every credit/debit card transaction is recorded by the banks: what you bought and where you are at (are you buying ammo, beer, and a pregnancy test?). Every smart phone call dialed is logged (who you called and your triangulated location and most believe that the call is route through a black box location that records everything). Your phone's GPS tells Big Brother where you are located 24/7/365. Your car's OBDII is logging how you drive so if you put in one of those nifty little plugins to get a better rate on car insurance they can track your driving habits and location 24/7/365. Car rentals all have GPS trackers. I suspect that our fancy radar detectors that give GPS related warnings can report your location. We won't even get started on what the NSA can glean from your internet activity.
Staying off the grid is virtually impossible unless you use a burner phone, no landline, no internet, no credit/debit cards, and drive an old car.

Basically 1984 is here. Big Brother is watching and listening. The only difference is that the info isn't interfering with your freedom of choice yet.

In the news today:
Google is recording everything you say to a bot – right now | Fox News

It saves every movie you watch, the music you listen to, every YouTube video you find, all of your image searches, and just about everything you do online.
To hear your own voice, just visit the My Activity site. It also saves all of your internet browsing history for some reason, even if you have that disabled in the Chrome browser.

The recordings and activity are saved every time you use the Google Assistant voicebot on your phone and in the Google Allo app, not just when you use the Google Home speaker.

Earlier this month, a reporter at Android Police discovered that a new Google Home Mini speaker was recording not just his own phrases when he said the “OK Google” hotword but everything being said at all times. Google permanently immediately resolved the "bug".

(emphasis on the word "bug" by me).

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

I've talked to people that have some of these lower priced smart phone plans. I don't need bad service, poor reception, spotty coverage, and throttling. As I've already stated I have no use for internet access 99.9 % of the time.
Choosing what works for me is not willful ignorance. I don't give a rip what is trendy or what others need. I do what works for me.

I don't feel tech has to be an all in proposition.

When I get a cell phone or computer I want the most powerful device that fits my budget.

However I play my guitar through a tube amp.

Vinyl and turntables are making a comeback,most of us would prefer a stick shift to an automatic in our sports cars... in a mini van...not so much.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by Por_sha911

I've talked to people that have some of these lower priced smart phone plans. I don't need bad service, poor reception, spotty coverage, and throttling. As I've already stated I have no use for internet access 99.9 % of the time.
Choosing what works for me is not willful ignorance. I don't give a rip what is trendy or what others need. I do what works for me.

Lower priced plans use the same cell towers as high priced plans.

Not having a use for internet 99.9% of the time is a symptom of willful ignorance.

Smartphones are not "trendy", unless you're saying the internet itself is trendy.

Oh, and Big Brother is here, and he is very bored. All anyone does is watch cat videos.

[wdfifteen]

The car doesn't have auto braking, so no.

[sugarwood]

Originally Posted by sammyg2

We can now drive a vehicle 100,000 miles with only adding gas and changing oil and air filters.

spark plugs that last forever, sealed transmissions, coolant systems that rarely need topping off, brakes that last nearly forever.

I remember always having a matchbook in the glove compartment because it was close to the .016" thickness required to gap the points.
I remember changing spark plugs every other year.
i remember oil going black after 1500 miles.
I remember having to adjust brakes to keep them from pulling to one side.
I remember having to check the tire pressure once a week because the paint on the steel rims was chipped and didn't seal perfectly.
I remember adding water to the radiator every month because it didn't have a plastic catch can.

No, the grass was definitely NOT greener back then.

Well said. Modern cars are truly amazing.

Excellent video giving context to the irrational tendency for people to lament "the kids today" and "how things were so great is was back then".
This backwards thinking is as old as time itself.

[/QUOTE]