There’s only been a few days with truly cold morning temperatures this winter. This photo is from one of those mornings where the mist/fog was rising from warmer waters just as the sun began burning through the cloudy haze. I was standing on a slightly wet rock near the waters edge thinking how cold that walk back to the car was going to be if my feet slipped.
While commuting to work I usually listen to NPR (National Public Radio.) A recent technology topic included a discussion of how previous generations were “knowledge storers,” accumulating, learning and remembering as much fact and knowledge in their pursuit of education and training as possible, while the current generations are “knowledge retrievers,” knowing the basic relationship of knowledge but relying on technology to quickly retrieve the detailed facts when needed on a near real time basis. To some extent I can see this happening all around me. But to my thinking, there seems a danger of pure “knowledge retrievers” not gaining a deep understand of the basics in their field of choice. You can plug numbers into a calculator and get the correct answer, but that doesn’t mean you understand the math it’s doing to arrive at that answer.
Certainly interesting times we’re living in and I wonder what these changes hold for the future.
There might be some truth in what they said on NPR. As we progress in a society where advanced technology is the norm, that technology becomes too complex for us primitive humans. Now we have specialists in all kinds of fields in order to keep up the the advancements. The “general practitioner” is a thing of the past. And automation has replaced many skills that were done by a dedicated workforce. Computers design computers now.
A lovely image, Earl. I like the way fog simplifies a photo.
Ken, there’s definitely a difference in the way we access and utilize information these days…with the usual good and bad results. I guess it’s not as much about understanding the technology these days as it is about understanding how to use it.
“Google it.” That is a common answer to any question. There even is a trivia app where you can hum or sing some portion of song and it will retrieve the song name for you. I remember those days in school when I had to memories words for my spelling test and in college when my physics test required me to write out the equation and not the answer. So, off the top of my head they could be right. A tad scary. I like that misty feel in this image and glad you did not fall in. :-)
Monte, thanks. As I was writing this post I couldn’t help but think how old I must sound even bringing this subject up. :-) Many kids today know nothing different and so it seems normal…perhaps it is.
The topic you raise is fascinating and one that ordinarily gets me going. However, this picture is so engaging I cannot keep my mind on the question. The contrasts between the bright light in the foreground bouncing off water and rocks—almost making me reach for sunglasses and the shroud of mist back among the trees—that is what mesmerizes me. This is one of those special images for me that I don’t view from the outside but that draws me into the scene to feel the dampness and hear the water.
Maybe, after all, the image says it all—bright and shiny where we stand—the way in front of us veiled in a foggy mist.
Anita, thanks. You described the attributes of this image perhaps better then I could.
While I very much respect NPR, I think in this case they’ve asked the wrong question. Their dichotomy between “knowledge storers” and “knowledge retrievers” isn’t a generational one, although it sometimes seems that way. It has only to do with what I’d call technological adaptation.
It affects all of us. Us older folks remember the day when we had tons of phone numbers locked in our memories. Where are they now? On our “smartphones”, of course. I have no idea, for example, what my daughter’s or son’s phone number is. But I can call (or text) either one any time I want at the push of a button. Maybe I even have their picture on the phone’s screen and all I have to do is push that. “We don’t need no numbers”! So I’m no longer a “storer” – I’m a “retriever”. Not by conscious choice, but by technological shift.
Likewise with traveling. I don’t have to personally contact hotels or air carriers or anyone else. I can find them (or “retrieve” them) on the internet.
I will grant that some people refuse to make the switch at all. They will forever be storers. But most of us go with the flow. The shift in ways of doing things is inevitable.
True, it’s easier for the kids. My 13 year old grandson knows far more about his phone than I do. But then he never had to make the choice. He’s never known another way. The only time he ever sees a phone number is when he’s entering it into his list of “contacts”.
Will it affect “the future”? Or how the human brain works? Who knows. The automobile ceretainly had an effect on how we get from place to place. The computer changed how we deal with data. Digital cameras too, I guess. And then Photoshop and Lightroom. In that regard, we’ve all become “retrievers” of pixels. So what? My picture-making mentality is still the same. Only the process changed.
Paul, perhaps you’re right…it’s just the process.
But I see the ease of retrieval often reducing any need of understanding the core principles of that that which we use. I would feel better about this smart technology path if it seemed to be supporting the development of a smarter generation, but in general i don’t see that happening. In many cases I see it having an opposite effect.
Many cashiers can’t make change unless the POS register tells them how much money to give the customer back. Even then they don’t know how to count change back to a person. Perhaps basic math principles won’t be needed in the future?
Many young adults communicate in short blurbs of text hundreds of times per day or week…yet they can’t construct a sentence in any common language known to man. Perhaps most of the languages of man will change to accommodate these devices and methods?
Socializing is when you sign-on a computer/web application and arrange your “friends,” which you’ve never met, into groups and share your virtual life with them. You’re popularity is scored by how many “friends” you have following or “liking” you.
We’ve exalted the ability to be “connected” at every moment almost to the point it’s become a new religion with people constantly having a smart device in their hand or pressed against their ear no matter what they’re doing…driving, eating, etc. Can you hear me now?
There are definitely pluses, which I personally enjoy. But as a member of this technology transition generation, I wonder what price we as a human society are going to pay down the road.
I do suspect your “picture-making” mentality has been influenced by technology perhaps more then you know. ;-)
I don’t disagree with any of what you say, Earl. All true. My grandkids still write things – when they absolutely have to use a pen and paper – in this godawful printing style. I don’t think they know what “cursive” is. And certainly texting is going to transform language. Yet there are still young people writing books. Good books. Since I’m a statistician, I’m always amused (or maybe frustrated) when clerks can’t make change in their heads. But who pays with actual cash money anymore? For me, if it’s over $10, out comes my debit card. No arithmetic needed. Besides, making change is more related to our educational system, I think. I don’t think it’s got anything to do with “smart” technology. Unless, of course, teachers are using iPads or something to teach math.
I will absolutely agree that social habits are being affected. When we take those same kids out to eat, I have to literally force them to put down their phones or ipods. Otherwise, we’d never get to talk with them. They’re probably happy as hell when we take them back home and they can resume all their “friendships”!
As I said, I don’t know where it will end up. Probably Henry Ford didn’t either when he started making all those automobiles. But we’ll survive, I hope. With any luck, a fair number of people will still use their heads for thinking. And, as always, a large number will not.
I’ll have to think about the influence on my “picture making mentality”……but you could be right!