am i wrong?

[nerwin]

That is ridiculous. I wish there was iPads when I was in school. Most of the students in my high school had some sort of palm device! Only the rich students had an original iPhone, others just had basic flip phones which you were allowed to use during school! Except during classes. The schools that I went to are now doing the same thing with the iPads, but they allow you to use your own iPad or tablet or if you can't afford one, they supply you one for free.

 

[bribrius]

you dreamin if you think humans are moving UP^^^^^ Couple weeks ago i stopped to put gas in my truck. Long azz line. I couldn't figure out what happened. I walk in the building i see this long line in there too. People standing around. All kinds of people. Cashier looks at me and asks if i am paying with cash. I said yes. She calls me up to the counter. Everyone else is looking. The manager is telling them "we should have this sorted out in a few more minutes and we apologize" or something to that extent. While i am paying the cashier i ask her what what was going on.
She tells me the credit/debit card interface or something went down.

no chit.....

Oh, look! An exception to the rule! Well, in that case, stop the world! Everyone needs to stop using electronic forms of payment immediately and switch back to cash because there was a payment hiccup at a gas station!

Never mind the fact that literally millions of electronic transactions go through every day without a hitch quicker and easier than some old lady ahead of you digging through her purse, counting out bills, then digging some more to find her change purse, and counting out change to the exact penny. While we're at it, let's find the exceptions that make us think we should all go back to Kodachrome, adding machines, horse and carriage, buggy whips, VHS, and a thousand other things that make somebody out there sad that they got replaced.

well. i would consider it a crack. Depending on how big that crack becomes depends on the after effects. The more reliant we become on electronics and less balance with them the more susceptible we are to potential disaster effects. I like electronics, i also realize they are very much a "castles in the air" approach separated somewhat from the natural world. so if you lose power i suppose you could try to use the ipad for a hammer but it wouldnt make it long. Electronics are only as good as the system they are incorporated with in. Which is themselves reliance on other systems, which is reliant on other systems. Very fallible. Now if they send out ipads with do it yourself solar power kits you had to assemble to run one that would be of value. However in our society we are mostly consumers. About it. A malfunction can take a entire part of the system down. The protech people (i am center of the line) can't seem to grasp the concept of the day they wake up and none of this chit works. I get a reminder of that every time i lose power. There are some great uses for technology. Much fo it is also a mirage. It isn't real. learn to build a windmill, that is real. Learn to sanitize your water supply charcoal and sand filtered. That is reall Learn to built a fire . That is real. These are things that have practical use. Learning to repair machinery, practical use. Putting all your eggs in one basket and depending on tech is a death sentence if the system crashes. We run that risk of raising tech junkies that cant survive without them. More tech you go, higher the risk. A simgle emp deviced or break down in the systems running the food suppy woud kill millions. That is dependency. This is what the tech junkies cant seem to understand. They look as tech as a savior or God. The cant comprehend the day you can't turn god on and have to fend for yourself. And as a entire system, we leave our open to potential sheer devastation. As we wont be able to survive without what we made working.

 

[Buckster]

Feel free to say I told you so when the great apocalypse comes, all electricity generation fails, and all electrical devices suddenly stop working.

Excuse me for not holding my breath though.

 

[bribrius]

Feel free to say I told you so when the great apocalypse comes, all electricity generation fails, and all electrical devices suddenly stop working.

Excuse me for not holding my breath though.

i see it all the time. My area loses power you would think it was the end of the world. They scurry like ants. Before you promote tech so much, you might do well to do a little due diligence on the associated risks. They are very real. You can find instances of these "cracks" quite readily. Do some research. The u.s. government has spent a lot of money in potential disaster preparation scenarios. Tech has only increased that risk. Go read some reports. Maybe they will be a eye opener for you. I have seen just a simple computer system go down, which made food not get to a chain of stores shelves. This is very real. Do some due diligence. Maybe you will understand better why some of us walk that middle of the road. While tech has it's benefits. There is something to be said for that slide rule as well.

People create their "system" within the overall natural system. Guess which one prevails?

 

[gsgary]

That ipad of yours isn't going to help me neck a load of real ale tonight

 

[pgriz]

Feel free to say I told you so when the great apocalypse comes, all electricity generation fails, and all electrical devices suddenly stop working.

Excuse me for not holding my breath though.

It doesn't require the apocalypse to have issues. Just any number of natural events, ranging from ice storms, to major flooding, to tornadoes and hurricanes, to winter storms to earthquates and tsunamis. If the sun has another snit-fit like it did in 1859 (the Carrington Event), there is a very good chance that the electric grid would be down for more than a few months, not to mention having the satellites fried (at least enough to be non-functional). We've also had a number of large meteor strikes (Cheliabinsk being a recent example), which if they occur over an urban area could be rather disruptive. Plus, given the prominence that cyberwarfare is getting, it is not inconceivable that some group that doesn't like the Western approach, may deliver some system-crippling viruses or other malware. There is a reason why Russia, China and India are putting up their own GPS and communication satellites. In short, modern technology is wonderful and fun, but critical systems should have some form of non-electronic backup. Just in case.

As for using iPads to facilitate student learning, I don't have any issues with it, as long as the school or school board implementing this method isn't thinking that just changing the tools will give the students a better learning experience. I have two daughters (one in university, one who's doing the teaching), several nephews and at least two sister-in-laws that are fully plugged into the possibilities of cyber education. But there have been issues that come with this type of connection (viruses, hacks, impersonation, inappropriate contact) that have to be dealt with.

 

[gsgary]

My gps threw a fit when I was touring Spain on my motorbike while the Gulf war was on I was told it had been turned off for the invasion good job I had maps

 

[Buckster]

No system, even non-electronic, is infallible. Oh my god! What if a tornado blows your slide rule, napkin, pencil and map away!! Horrors! You won't be able to calculate how to get your analog-powered rocket to the moon and back!! What a disaster!!!

It's coming! You just mark my words!! Run! Run for your lives! Spend the time now to learn how to carve wheels out of rocks using discarded soda straws, or you'll never be able to survive!!

 

[Buckster]

Obviously, this signals the end to civilization:

First Navy recruits issued tablets at Great Lakes

 

[waday]

All this tampering with the ozone layer.

 

[Buckster]

That ipad of yours isn't going to help me neck a load of real ale tonight

Neither will your paper map.

 

[gsgary]

That ipad of yours isn't going to help me neck a load of real ale tonight

Neither will your paper map.

I have the waterproof maps so a could fold it into a tankard

 

[Buckster]

That ipad of yours isn't going to help me neck a load of real ale tonight

Neither will your paper map.

I have the waterproof maps so a could fold it into a tankard

Please do, video the process, including drinking from it, with a tape camcorder, send the tape to someone to digitize it for you, put the digitized video file up on youtube, then post it here for us all to see how that worked out for you. Or, if that electronic camcorder that uses tape to record digital ones and zeros is still too high tech for you, shoot it with 8mm movie gear and have that processed into digital, or maybe have an artisan chisel the scene into a series of clay tablets, shoot each one with Kodachrome, then put them together into a video sequence we can see.

Go ahead and show us those mad skillz you have with a map turned into a tankard. Until you do, I don't believe a word of it. I think you're just pulling this stuff out of some dark crevice somewhere because you can't deal with the reality of a digital future coming straight at you like a runaway freight train.

 

[Buckster]

It doesn't require the apocalypse to have issues. Just any number of natural events, ranging from ice storms, to major flooding, to tornadoes and hurricanes, to winter storms to earthquates and tsunamis. If the sun has another snit-fit like it did in 1859 (the Carrington Event), there is a very good chance that the electric grid would be down for more than a few months, not to mention having the satellites fried (at least enough to be non-functional). We've also had a number of large meteor strikes (Cheliabinsk being a recent example), which if they occur over an urban area could be rather disruptive. Plus, given the prominence that cyberwarfare is getting, it is not inconceivable that some group that doesn't like the Western approach, may deliver some system-crippling viruses or other malware. There is a reason why Russia, China and India are putting up their own GPS and communication satellites. In short, modern technology is wonderful and fun, but critical systems should have some form of non-electronic backup. Just in case.

Again, we're talking in this thread about tablets in schools as a basic school supply for reading and research, not the failsafe systems on nuclear weapons missile silos. The fact that some of you have to scale up to Earth-melting scenarios to show what a horrible idea tablets in school is speaks volumes to me about how NOT significant or controversial the ACTUAL topic of tablets in schools really is.

I get that you don't personally seem to think that tablets in schools is a horrible idea, btw. But to further the conversation in the direction of those who have to scale up like that in an attempt to make any headway for their argument is, I think, counterproductive to the actual topic of, once again, tablets in schools.

And the pulling out of exceptions like weather events that disrupt electronic systems here and there is, to me, tantamount to trying to make the case that everyone having a horse and buggy is better than them having cars or trucks because sometimes powered vehicles crash and snarl traffic, injure or kill people, and so forth. Sometimes weather events shut down roads. Another sun "snit-fit" like the one in 1859 would also take out all the electronic systems in those powered vehicles also.

So what's the alternative? Go back to horse and buggy and shut down the airlines? Does that seem realistic to ANYBODY here? If not, then what IS your answer to that problem, if you consider it a real threat to worry about on a daily basis, enough so that you feel something MUST BE DONE - starting with, of all things, stopping the spread of the use of tablets in schools.

Truly, I'm flabbergasted by the direction and reach of the comments associated with trying to make a case that tablets in schools is not just a bad idea but also, apparently, truly dangerous for mankind as a whole.

 

[KenC]

Truly, I'm flabbergasted by the direction and reach of the comments associated with trying to make a case that tablets in schools is not just a bad idea but also, apparently, truly dangerous for mankind as a whole.

I thought you'd been here long enough not to be surprised by anything you see here.