GPS makes you dumber

[X_4AD_84]

Use GPS / Siri / etc.

Become a moron:

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/03/...490118414/

'When participants navigated Soho streets without assistance, brain scans revealed spikes in neural activity in both regions as people ventured onto new streets. The same regions were silent when participants were guided by GPS instructions.'

De-evolution. DEVO. D ... E ... V ... O ...

[Ragnarök_62]

(03-21-2017, 03:38 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Use GPS / Siri / etc.

Become a moron:

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/03/...490118414/

'When participants navigated Soho streets without assistance, brain scans revealed spikes in neural activity in both regions as people ventured onto new streets. The same regions were silent when participants were guided by GPS instructions.'

De-evolution. DEVO. D ... E ... V ... O ...

Still don't have GPS.  Dead reckoning is da bomb, man.  At age 17, dad took me on a trip to Los Alamos. I got to have use of his IH Scout and did an experiment.  Lesse, could I find my old house in Los Alamos?  Yup.  So far so good, let's now check out Santa Fe, check. Go to my aunt's cabin in Tres Ritos, check. On the way back, scope out  Harding mine, near Dixon. It only takes remembering highway numbers and what assorted landmarks look like. [Like so what if the original maps were made by a 5 year old?]

[The Wonkette]

(03-21-2017, 04:00 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:

(03-21-2017, 03:38 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Use GPS / Siri / etc.

Become a moron:

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/03/...490118414/

'When participants navigated Soho streets without assistance, brain scans revealed spikes in neural activity in both regions as people ventured onto new streets. The same regions were silent when participants were guided by GPS instructions.'

De-evolution. DEVO. D ... E ... V ... O ...

Still don't have GPS.  Dead reckoning is da bomb, man.  At age 17, dad took me on a trip to Los Alamos. I got to have use of his IH Scout and did an experiment.  Lesse, could I find my old house in Los Alamos?  Yup.  So far so good, let's now check out Santa Fe, check. Go to my aunt's cabin in Tres Ritos, check. On the way back, scope out  Harding mine, near Dixon. It only takes remembering highway numbers and what assorted landmarks look like. [Like so what if the original maps were made by a 5 year old?]

You guys don't live where traffic is hideous.  I use my GPS not so I don't get lost usually, but because GPS can help me avoid some horrendous traffic tie-ups.  It seems like when I don't use it, I end up in gridlock.

[Odin]

(03-21-2017, 09:04 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote:

(03-21-2017, 07:58 PM)The Wonkette Wrote:

(03-21-2017, 04:00 PM)Ragnarök_62 Wrote:

(03-21-2017, 03:38 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Use GPS / Siri / etc.

Become a moron:

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2017/03/...490118414/

'When participants navigated Soho streets without assistance, brain scans revealed spikes in neural activity in both regions as people ventured onto new streets. The same regions were silent when participants were guided by GPS instructions.'

De-evolution. DEVO. D ... E ... V ... O ...

Still don't have GPS.  Dead reckoning is da bomb, man.  At age 17, dad took me on a trip to Los Alamos. I got to have use of his IH Scout and did an experiment.  Lesse, could I find my old house in Los Alamos?  Yup.  So far so good, let's now check out Santa Fe, check. Go to my aunt's cabin in Tres Ritos, check. On the way back, scope out  Harding mine, near Dixon. It only takes remembering highway numbers and what assorted landmarks look like. [Like so what if the original maps were made by a 5 year old?]

You guys don't live where traffic is hideous.  I use my GPS not so I don't get lost usually, but because GPS can help me avoid some horrendous traffic tie-ups.  It seems like when I don't use it, I end up in gridlock.

Actually, I do.

Wonk lives in the DC area, beltway traffic is supposedly a special kind of Hell.

[Odin]

I use public transportation, so I'm used to having to use common sense to get my bearings. I just use maps to tell me where exactly I am, I don't need them to tell me where to go unless I'm in a place where it is easy to get lost.

[Kinser79]

Last Party Congress I went to, a comrade and myself were sent to acquire groceries. He inisisted on using GPS and the damn machine tried to have us drive over the same out bridge four times.

After driving in circles for five minutes he eventually relented to letting me do the driving. First thing I did was unplug his GPS and throw it into the back seat. I found a main road and drove along it until we found said grocery.

Moral of this story...dependence on any form of technology is stupid.

It should be noted that I don't particularly drive very much in my own home area, and that this was clearly not my home area as were on the outskirts of Milwaukee.

[Odin]

(03-22-2017, 10:02 AM)Kinser79 Wrote: Last Party Congress I went to, a comrade and myself were sent to acquire groceries.  He inisisted on using GPS and the damn machine tried to have us drive over the same out bridge four times.

After driving in circles for five minutes he eventually relented to letting me do the driving.  First thing I did was unplug his GPS and throw it into the back seat.  I found a main road and drove along it until we found said grocery.

Moral of this story...dependence on any form of technology is stupid.

It should be noted that I don't particularly drive very much in my own home area, and that this was clearly not my home area as were on the outskirts of Milwaukee.

Wow, what a stunning lack of common sense, there. I think that is the problem, people have grown to use technology as a magic box and blindly follow the magic box without question. If it tells them to go around in circles they'll go around it circles, like hamsters on a wheel.

[Kinser79]

(03-22-2017, 06:29 PM)Odin Wrote:

(03-22-2017, 10:02 AM)Kinser79 Wrote: Last Party Congress I went to, a comrade and myself were sent to acquire groceries.  He inisisted on using GPS and the damn machine tried to have us drive over the same out bridge four times.

After driving in circles for five minutes he eventually relented to letting me do the driving.  First thing I did was unplug his GPS and throw it into the back seat.  I found a main road and drove along it until we found said grocery.

Moral of this story...dependence on any form of technology is stupid.

It should be noted that I don't particularly drive very much in my own home area, and that this was clearly not my home area as were on the outskirts of Milwaukee.

Wow, what a stunning lack of common sense, there. I think that is the problem, people have grown to use technology as a magic box and blindly follow the magic box without question. If it tells them to go around in circles they'll go around it circles, like hamsters on a wheel.

Yes well to be fair this particular comrade drew the short straw when it came to having to go with me.  Have I mentioned that I'm incredibly difficult to shop with too?  A list is made every time and it is strictly and dogmatically adhered to.  If it isn't on the list it doesn't get bought.

This same comrade also got lost when we went into Chicago to visit the Haymarket cemetery, again he was following the GPS instead of the written instructions provided by the local comrades.  Fortunately I wasn't going to travel with him in that case.  For two reasons:  Apparently the grocery trip with me shook him up to the point he cried (he was later expelled for cowardice--I may or may not have called him a dumbass 20 or 30 times but I call everyone that at least once a day--they used to call me Red) and  I would have had to ridden in the back seat and for some reason I get car sick easily. 

Figure that out.  Rolling pitching boat no problem.  Back seat of a car--needs barf bag.

[pbrower2a]

I could drive across country without a map. Knowing where to go once I got to a big city (or in Florida) might be a different story.

GPS might be good for saving time. But here are some things to consider:

1. I stick to numbered routes by night except in the areas close to home. Vision is worse, and signs are smaller on rural roads. State highways are better marked.

2. GPS is not good for seeking things to do along the route. I am still a AAA member. If I ever take the road trip to Florida, then I know of some places to see along the way -- probably not Disney World, but instead such places as Cape Canaveral, Saint Augustine, Savannah, Asheville, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and the MLK historical sight -- maybe some Civil War battlefields.

3. GPS is good for getting you to obvious service. But if I dislike 'corporate' restaurants, what alternatives do I have?

4. You are right about 'bridge out'. Beware construction zones.

[pbrower2a]

All in all, we depend too much upon gadgets for guidance and entertainment. At best they are surrogates. Maybe you can't afford to attend the World Series or the coronation of a reigning monarch. So if I put a Nook in a remaindered book that I have carved out to accommodate , I might still have a genuine physical book that I would never read (let us say Rush Limboor) protecting a real treasure that I can read (let us say Dostoevsky). But in such a case it is the words that matter.

Ask yourself about the peak experiences of your life. Was a television present?

[pbrower2a]

(06-29-2017, 11:32 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Last night I saw this pickup (make that "peekup") stopped about 50 feet short of a light at the freeway on / off ramp intersection. Cars were going around it - I figured it was as break down. Strangely, the hazard lights were not on. As I too passed, I looked inside ... there was a Latino guy in his late 20s looking down toward his lap ... a slight blue glow projected upward. As I left the intersection I saw the "peekup" finally turned right and got onto the freeway. This is how some people now decide what to do at an approaching intersection.

Why not do what I do, which is to read a map beforehand? That's what we did before there was GPS. So let's say that I am going to a place where I have never been before. Let us say  "Seattle". Once I get to Chicago from the east I can take

I-94 to I-90, switching off at either Madison until I get to Billings and take I-90 to the west
I-80 west to the 80/84 split west of Ogden and Salt Lake City, I-84 west into eastern Oregon, I-82 north and west through Yakima, and finally I-90 to Seattle
I-90 all the way

.... If I feel a little more adventurous and want to see something of what semi-rural parts of northern Illinois and rural parts of southern Wisconsin look like I can take US 12 to Madison or pick it up again in the Twin Cities and go almost straight west (although it angles enough to go from South Dakota into North Dakota back to I-94 to Billings and I-90 to Seattle- which would take me through some country that I would otherwise never see. Or I might select a route that has the side effect of giving me a route to the Grand Tetons and/or Yellowstone.

Not knowing Seattle, I would definitely need a map for it.

GPS is a poor substitute for thinking. Maybe not as bad as watching FoX Propaganda Channel, but pretty bad, on the whole.

[Odin]

(06-29-2017, 11:32 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Last night I saw this pickup (make that "peekup") stopped about 50 feet short of a light at the freeway on / off ramp intersection. Cars were going around it - I figured it was as break down. Strangely, the hazard lights were not on. As I too passed, I looked inside ... there was a Latino guy in his late 20s looking down toward his lap ... a slight blue glow projected upward. As I left the intersection I saw the "peekup" finally turned right and got onto the freeway. This is how some people now decide what to do at an approaching intersection.

Wow, what a stunning lack of common sense.

[The Wonkette]

(06-14-2017, 01:46 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: Here's an indication of what the shooter believed about Representative Steve Scalise:



This would be enough to suggest a charge of Attempted First-Degree Murder, as it shows a motive. I've said some nasty things about my district's elected stooge of every imaginable corporate lobbyist. (He is exactly that, and I want to see him defeated in 2018). Even if Rep. Scalise were a KKK fascist he would not deserve to be shot.

Here's hoping for a recovery of Representative Scalise from his wounds, no matter how much I hold his politics in contempt. .

(06-29-2017, 08:02 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(06-29-2017, 11:32 AM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Last night I saw this pickup (make that "peekup") stopped about 50 feet short of a light at the freeway on / off ramp intersection. Cars were going around it - I figured it was as break down. Strangely, the hazard lights were not on. As I too passed, I looked inside ... there was a Latino guy in his late 20s looking down toward his lap ... a slight blue glow projected upward. As I left the intersection I saw the "peekup" finally turned right and got onto the freeway. This is how some people now decide what to do at an approaching intersection.

Why not do what I do, which is to read a map beforehand? That's what we did before there was GPS. So let's say that I am going to a place where I have never been before. Let us say  "Seattle". Once I get to Chicago from the east I can take

I-94 to I-90, switching off at either Madison until I get to Billings and take I-90 to the west
I-80 west to the 80/84 split west of Ogden and Salt Lake City, I-84 west into eastern Oregon, I-82 north and west through Yakima, and finally I-90 to Seattle
I-90 all the way

.... If I feel a little more adventurous and want to see something of what semi-rural parts of northern Illinois and rural parts of southern Wisconsin look like I can take US 12 to Madison or pick it up again in the Twin Cities and go almost straight west (although it angles enough to go from South Dakota into North Dakota back to I-94 to Billings and I-90 to Seattle- which would take me through some country that I would otherwise never see. Or I might select a route that has the side effect of giving me a route to the Grand Tetons and/or Yellowstone.

Not knowing Seattle, I would definitely need a map for it.

GPS is a poor substitute for thinking. Maybe not as bad as watching FoX Propaganda Channel, but pretty bad, on the whole.

The one thing that my Google maps app on my smartphone does that maps don't is provide real time traffic information. I will be driving up from the DC area to Northern New Jersey Saturday afternoon and I'll be darned if I don't let Google guide me. Google has gotten me diverted from some horrible traffic before

[pbrower2a]

(07-03-2017, 11:41 AM)The Wonkette Wrote:

(06-29-2017, 08:02 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: GPS is a poor substitute for thinking. Maybe not as bad as watching FoX Propaganda Channel, but pretty bad, on the whole.

The one thing that my Google maps app on my smartphone does that maps don't is provide real time traffic information.  I will be driving up from the DC area to Northern New Jersey Saturday afternoon and I'll be darned if I don't let Google guide me.  Google has gotten me diverted from some horrible traffic before

Being diverted from a traffic jam is a legitimate objective. The right route through an urban area can change dramatically if someone does something stupid, like cutting off an eighteen-wheeler whose driver must panic to avoid an obvious accident. To avoid a rear-end collision the trucker jack-knifes, only to make things even worse. Even for that I can see a solution in drivers' training.

But in the meantime, real-time reporting of traffic backups from any cause are a legitimate cause for changing course.

I had an incident this summer in which somebody did something stupid on I-71/75 south of Cincinnati. Had we known we might have taken a different route into Cincinnati and shaved about 45 minutes of stressful driving off our route. As my brother and I inched our way through a traffic snarl I saw a tipped-over RV at the end of the travail. I don't know who was at fault for the accident, as that was for Kentucky state troopers to figure out after the traffic cleared.

With real-time warning of traffic backups from all causes we would have changed our route. An alternative was obvious had we known.  But Cincinnati is not a giant metro area as Greater Washington DC is, let alone Philadelphia.  Or in my more usual experience, Greater Chicago, Detroit, or Indianapolis.

[Bob Butler 54]

A brief comment on the original comment on how GPS makes you dumber.

There were earlier echoes of this.  As the frontier vanished and more people moved to the cities, people thought we were loosing wilderness survival skills...  which we were.  One response was the Boy Scouts of America attempting to keep the old skills alive.

I have also thought the GI good with their hands.  If it was broke, they could fix it.  That seems to be fading as well.

I suspect that as technology and culture shift, the most useful skill sets shift as well.  Overall, I would say the new internet and computer technology is putting a lot more information in the users hand, even if how to get the same information using dated hard copy methods becomes forgotten.

[pbrower2a]

(07-20-2017, 05:57 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: A brief comment on the original comment on how GPS makes you dumber.

There were earlier echoes of this.  As the frontier vanished and more people moved to the cities, people thought we were loosing wilderness survival skills...  which we were.  One response was the Boy Scouts of America attempting to keep the old skills alive.

I have also thought the GI good with their hands.  If it was broke, they could fix it.  That seems to be fading as well.

I suspect that as technology and culture shift, the most useful skill sets shift as well.  Overall, I would say the new internet and computer technology is putting a lot more information in the users hand, even if how to get the same information using dated hard copy methods becomes forgotten.

Note also that our objects are getting more complicated and intricate. If they are necessarily manufactured by a machine or robot, then we can hardly expect to repair those objects.

A Model-T Ford was so designed that the average person could repair it if it broke down.  Contemporary cars? Could you replace or  repair a catalytic converter? Or the car's air conditioner or radio? Obviously the car from a century ago had no radio, air conditioner, or catalytic converter.

[Kinser79]

(07-20-2017, 05:57 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: A brief comment on the original comment on how GPS makes you dumber.

There were earlier echoes of this.  As the frontier vanished and more people moved to the cities, people thought we were loosing wilderness survival skills...  which we were.  One response was the Boy Scouts of America attempting to keep the old skills alive.

I have also thought the GI good with their hands.  If it was broke, they could fix it.  That seems to be fading as well.

I suspect that as technology and culture shift, the most useful skill sets shift as well.  Overall, I would say the new internet and computer technology is putting a lot more information in the users hand, even if how to get the same information using dated hard copy methods becomes forgotten.

By and large this is mostly true.  Though there is still a large component of those who can still fix most things (my husband for example, he may teach history at the local child prison school but he can fix just about anything).  But I have noticed that my kid has difficulty using the card catalog (yes our library still has one though they plan on phasing it out soon), but can fix my mother's computer faster than I can.

In all honesty most of her problems are related to her poor choices, but I've eventually convinced her to leave any antivirus I put on there alone, so there are fewer problems.

That being said, in my previous posts I was complining of a stunning lack of common sense.  If the GPS machine is telling you to drive somewhere, but the road signs are saying detour, you follow the road signs.  When in doubt find yourself a local and ask for directions.  Most people will give them to you if you ask politely.

[David Horn]

(07-21-2017, 10:11 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote: Reparability and maintainability is an engineering discipline unto its self. However, it requires lots of diligence and creativity early in the design process. Often times, a designer resents input from experts in this field, because it forces the designer into certain constraints and may slightly increase the overall part count (especially interconnects and fasteners). Also on that score, enter also the bean counter. Still, having highly repairable and maintainable cars, consumer electronics, etc, is very possible. Were humanity to adopt a true Green philosophy, maintainability and reparability would be easily justified due to their reduction of total life cycle costs born currently by The Commons and the consumer. BTW, the same features of good maintainability and reparability also tend to make field upgrades far more viable, just saying.

As the use of automated fabrication increases, the cost of goods drop.  This is a net good, but it also makes reparability a less valuable trait.  Yes, an iPhone costs a lot at retail, but it actually costs less than $20 to make.  Why not just replace it under a long term warranty plan, and everyone comes out ahead ... or so the logic goes. 

Few things are fully worth the cost of repairing them anymore, and those that are need special tools and/or expertise.  When you send that failed iPhone off to be "recycled", it may be repaired or scrapped, but it won't be repaired by an old-time bench technician with a few hand tools and a soldering iron.  It's a quick turn or salvage.

[pbrower2a]

(07-21-2017, 10:11 PM)X_4AD_84 Wrote:

(07-20-2017, 09:37 PM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(07-20-2017, 05:57 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote: A brief comment on the original comment on how GPS makes you dumber.

There were earlier echoes of this.  As the frontier vanished and more people moved to the cities, people thought we were loosing wilderness survival skills...  which we were.  One response was the Boy Scouts of America attempting to keep the old skills alive.

I have also thought the GI good with their hands.  If it was broke, they could fix it.  That seems to be fading as well.

I suspect that as technology and culture shift, the most useful skill sets shift as well.  Overall, I would say the new internet and computer technology is putting a lot more information in the users hand, even if how to get the same information using dated hard copy methods becomes forgotten.

Note also that our objects are getting more complicated and intricate. If they are necessarily manufactured by a machine or robot, then we can hardly expect to repair those objects.

A Model-T Ford was so designed that the average person could repair it if it broke down.  Contemporary cars? Could you replace or  repair a catalytic converter? Or the car's air conditioner or radio? Obviously the car from a century ago had no radio, air conditioner, or  catalytic converter.

Repairability and maintainability is an engineering discipline unto its self. However, it requires lots of diligence and creativity early in the design process. Often times, a designer resents input from experts in this field, because it forces the designer into certain constraints and may slightly increase the overall part count (especially interconnects and fasteners). Also on that score, enter also the bean counter. Still, having highly repairable and maintainable cars, consumer electronics, etc, is very possible. Were humanity to adopt a true Green philosophy, maintainability and repairability would be easily justified due to their reduction of total life cycle costs born currently by The Commons and the consumer. BTW, the same features of good maintainability and repairability also tend to make field upgrades far more viable, just saying.

Let's also remember -- the Model-T Ford broke down often. It would be terribly unsafe by modern standards. Lacking a fuel pump the car relied upon gravity to drive the fuel, so people often drove it in reverse up a hill so that they could get to the top of a hill. Ease of repair implies that it has much less to repair.  Of course the Tin Lizzie is much too slow for modern highways, so it is no longer street-usable unless it has a modified (and thus non-genuine) engine.

But much that is truly modern is reliable enough. I have a ten-year-old flat-screen TV that has never needed a repair. The design was apparently really, really good. I suspect that obsolescence is more likely to cause me to give it up than a mechanical breakdown.

For real sustainability, technology can allow self-repair, as with computers. I expect self-repair to become a norm for robots and spacecraft.

[Bob Butler 54]

(07-25-2017, 09:16 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: But much that is truly modern is reliable enough. I have a ten-year-old flat-screen TV that has never needed a repair. The design was apparently really, really good. I suspect that obsolescence is more likely to cause me to give it up than a mechanical breakdown.

Part of that is basic differences in technology. Vacuum tubes were just going to need replacement. If you have filaments throwing subatomic particles out into the wild, they will eventually burn out.

This isn't to say that several more decades refining designs didn't help.

I recently traded an old car (2004) for a new (2016). The salesman claimed that the total number of moving parts had gone from around 7,000 to 70,000. I suspect his method of counting 'moving' parts is creative and unusual, but the point is there. Design approaches are definitely shifting.