I grew up in a culture that was very suspicious of anything not approved of my the pastor. D and D would have been forbidden. So when I found WoW as a part of the EMDT program I was very suspicious. Funny thing, I have been playing for a couple of months now and I still have not lost my faith.
On the other hand, I am closer to my nieces and nephews across the country than I have been in years and I rarely watch television any more.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Reflections on culture and technology
Or perhaps labor verses capitol.
Several years ago I had the privilege to spending a couple weeks in Mexico. The weather was amazing, the food great and cheap. The people were warm and friendly. One day I got to watch the process of pouring a second floor concrete floor. A dump truck delivered the sand and gravel, the bags of Portland cement were unloaded by hand and stacked close to the sand and gravel. The cement mixer was filled with a half sack of cement the right number of shovel-fulls of sand and gravel while it was rotating. When the mix was right the cement was poured out into 5 gal buckets and passed up the ladder bucket brigade style.
In my part of the United States a similar project would involve a pumper truck and the truck from the pre-mix company. The job would probably take about the same time to complete. The difference being four workers in the North and twenty-five in Mexico, and two million or so dollars worth of equipment vs an electric mixer from the Sears catalog.
Thinking back on that story and how much easier it is to accomplish difficult tasks with fewer person hours invested, when does it stop. This year in Boise, half of the garbage collectors lost their jobs when the trucks became self-loading. How many years does it take to amortize a high-tech garbage truck against the loss of jobs? Especially jobs that could be open to felons?
How long will it take until we are living the life of the space travelers in Wall-e.
Several years ago I had the privilege to spending a couple weeks in Mexico. The weather was amazing, the food great and cheap. The people were warm and friendly. One day I got to watch the process of pouring a second floor concrete floor. A dump truck delivered the sand and gravel, the bags of Portland cement were unloaded by hand and stacked close to the sand and gravel. The cement mixer was filled with a half sack of cement the right number of shovel-fulls of sand and gravel while it was rotating. When the mix was right the cement was poured out into 5 gal buckets and passed up the ladder bucket brigade style.
In my part of the United States a similar project would involve a pumper truck and the truck from the pre-mix company. The job would probably take about the same time to complete. The difference being four workers in the North and twenty-five in Mexico, and two million or so dollars worth of equipment vs an electric mixer from the Sears catalog.
Thinking back on that story and how much easier it is to accomplish difficult tasks with fewer person hours invested, when does it stop. This year in Boise, half of the garbage collectors lost their jobs when the trucks became self-loading. How many years does it take to amortize a high-tech garbage truck against the loss of jobs? Especially jobs that could be open to felons?
How long will it take until we are living the life of the space travelers in Wall-e.
Getting an A to off the boat
I am going through a major transition in the EMDT program. For the first 10 months I was riding the pontoon laughing and loving the ride. Then I came off of the boat, and could not find my nose with my toes. I looked for an oar to grab and I think I may have found it.
The Art of Possibility is teaching me how I am inventing my own reality, and calling me back to the boat. I am not quite returned to an A, but it is coming closer. I think I can reach the oar now.
The Art of Possibility is teaching me how I am inventing my own reality, and calling me back to the boat. I am not quite returned to an A, but it is coming closer. I think I can reach the oar now.
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