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Grex > Agora46 > #144: Machines get smarter, Americans get dumber | |
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| Author |
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russ
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Machines get smarter, Americans get dumber
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Aug 5 02:36 UTC 2003 |
Cage's Second Law: If you make a machine with a screen people
can read to tell them what they're doing wrong, you will discover
that people cannot or will not read.
Case in point: Kid at the bottle-return machines, at least 12
years old judging from his size. Kid stuffs the same 2-liter
bottle neck-first into the machine over and over, which flashes
its screen in error until the kid removes it. Lather, rinse,
repeat.
The message on the screen in 1-inch letters: "INSERT BOTTOM FIRST".
Exactly how did we wind up with a growing segment of the populace
which behaves as if it hasn't got the brains nature gave a turnip?
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| 112 responses total. |
cross
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response 1 of 112:
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Aug 5 02:44 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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carson
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response 2 of 112:
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Aug 5 04:30 UTC 2003 |
(...not enough Star Trek novels.)
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pvn
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response 3 of 112:
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Aug 5 05:57 UTC 2003 |
Thats too easy. Clearly the user interface wasn't approved by OSHA.
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pvn
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response 4 of 112:
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Aug 5 06:00 UTC 2003 |
And clearly the libertarian approach would leave it up to the
marketplace. The machine should have charged the user a fee to insert
the bottle in the first place, thus repeated insertions generating an
icreased profit margin.
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sj2
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response 5 of 112:
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Aug 5 06:01 UTC 2003 |
Audio-visual outputs should be complemented with mechanical outputs
like an arm that comes out and smacks the dumb. :)
Btw, I think you should replace "American" with "people".
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oval
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response 6 of 112:
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Aug 5 14:11 UTC 2003 |
when i boot all the linux machines here, there is a login prompt. i'd say
about half the customers are completely perplexed by this even though the
username and password is pasted in large letters on the monitor. today, when
a guy asked about this i pointed out the login/pass was right there and he
still could not seem to login. i had to do it for him, though i shouldn't
have.
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novomit
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response 7 of 112:
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Aug 5 14:18 UTC 2003 |
Why don't you have them set up to start X as soon as the machine boots up?
Might make it a bit easier for your users.
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oval
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response 8 of 112:
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Aug 5 15:35 UTC 2003 |
it does, then runs gdm. one has to be logged in, and it gets old logging in
10 computers everytime when the people can just do it themselves. it's even
a nice pretty M$-esque-graphical-friendly login display..
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novomit
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response 9 of 112:
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Aug 5 15:36 UTC 2003 |
Sounds like you need some new users.
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oval
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response 10 of 112:
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Aug 5 15:38 UTC 2003 |
ya, but this place is a public internet cafe.
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novomit
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response 11 of 112:
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Aug 5 15:42 UTC 2003 |
Roads are public places too but not everybody should be allowed to drive. ;)
Can't you set up an autologin? Might save you from the trouble of having to
do it.
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oval
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response 12 of 112:
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Aug 5 16:03 UTC 2003 |
or could just make the people feel really really stupid.
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cross
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response 13 of 112:
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Aug 5 16:05 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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oval
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response 14 of 112:
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Aug 5 16:11 UTC 2003 |
c'mon we've already made it easy enough for them. at one point we even drew
a big blue 'e' for them to click on to bring up mozilla. but what we really
want is make people more comfortable using linux so maybe they will ditch
their insane realiance on M$.
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novomit
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response 15 of 112:
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Aug 5 16:29 UTC 2003 |
I am not sure that's the problem though . . . even Windows requires you to
log in. If they can't figure out how to do that much, why are they around a
computer? Linux isn't any harder to use than MS now with all the KDE and Gnome
stuff available.
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oval
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response 16 of 112:
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Aug 5 16:45 UTC 2003 |
ya zactly.
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mynxcat
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response 17 of 112:
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Aug 5 17:57 UTC 2003 |
Re #0 - Maybe the kid couldn't read?
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novomit
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response 18 of 112:
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Aug 5 18:23 UTC 2003 |
What good will a computer do someone who can't read?
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tod
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response 19 of 112:
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Aug 5 19:16 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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novomit
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response 20 of 112:
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Aug 5 19:19 UTC 2003 |
A little pesticide never hurt anyone.
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mynxcat
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response 21 of 112:
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Aug 5 19:21 UTC 2003 |
I'm talking about the guy and the bottle. Maybe the kid couldn't read.
Doesn't mean he's dumb, just illiterate. There's a difference
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novomit
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response 22 of 112:
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Aug 5 19:24 UTC 2003 |
Might have a lot to do with the fact that even most people who can read don't
read warning labels and the like.
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tod
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response 23 of 112:
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Aug 5 19:38 UTC 2003 |
This response has been erased.
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oval
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response 24 of 112:
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Aug 5 19:45 UTC 2003 |
thar ya go.
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