JFBev
Member
- Location
- Oregon Coast
This forum seems friendly -- thought I'd write a little about myself and see what any of you might have to comment on or relate to.
Here goes! I'll keep the paragraphs 3 lines or less.
I wrote my first line of computer (math) code in high school in 1973, and have pretty much been in that world since then; was a professional developer and used that background for economics research in the 00's. I personally never experienced any gender bias as a female, because 90% of the interaction was electronic.
Funny story: I had been working online with another programmer for 2 years, then I was relocated to the same office building he was in -- even though our offices were about 50 feet apart, we still worked online. We "knew" each other in that world, and chose to continue communicating in the same way.
When I began to back away from that world, I realized that I'd been in a real bubble -- future-oriented mostly.
A few years ago, I began to teach ESL to adults -- many of these students are barely surviving financially, but all of them have smart phones; this makes it difficult for them to really dive deeply into their new language, depending instead on translators.
Millennials' brains are, literally, wired differently than previous generations. Their dependence on technology is so complete that if/when there is a natural disruption, very-very few of them would be capable of solving the simplest of problems on their own (without devices to calculate, measure, and think for them).
I have a ton of faith in the talent of engineers who are able to return booster rockets to their original positions(!), rather than products developed in government bureaucracies which stifle innovation.
The economics part of this journey is a little scarier; what used to be called "behavioral modification" is now referred to as "nudging" toward "optimal outcomes". Who decides what is optimal? We are being studied to death (in my less energetic moods, I can empathize with what laboratory rats must feel like).
I didn't mean for this to be a diatribe; I fully understand that the future is a place I can't go. I am fascinated by the fact that money follows successful novelty at the expense of -- well -- infrastructure, for one.
When the next dark age comes, will society have to be re-learned -- again???
In spite of all that, I am an optimistic person (hey, if a BS-Economics won't make a cynic out of you, then nothing will).
But, I'm not a philosopher by nature.
Does anyone have any thoughts about how to accommodate such a dilemma?
Here goes! I'll keep the paragraphs 3 lines or less.
I wrote my first line of computer (math) code in high school in 1973, and have pretty much been in that world since then; was a professional developer and used that background for economics research in the 00's. I personally never experienced any gender bias as a female, because 90% of the interaction was electronic.
Funny story: I had been working online with another programmer for 2 years, then I was relocated to the same office building he was in -- even though our offices were about 50 feet apart, we still worked online. We "knew" each other in that world, and chose to continue communicating in the same way.
When I began to back away from that world, I realized that I'd been in a real bubble -- future-oriented mostly.
A few years ago, I began to teach ESL to adults -- many of these students are barely surviving financially, but all of them have smart phones; this makes it difficult for them to really dive deeply into their new language, depending instead on translators.
Millennials' brains are, literally, wired differently than previous generations. Their dependence on technology is so complete that if/when there is a natural disruption, very-very few of them would be capable of solving the simplest of problems on their own (without devices to calculate, measure, and think for them).
I have a ton of faith in the talent of engineers who are able to return booster rockets to their original positions(!), rather than products developed in government bureaucracies which stifle innovation.
The economics part of this journey is a little scarier; what used to be called "behavioral modification" is now referred to as "nudging" toward "optimal outcomes". Who decides what is optimal? We are being studied to death (in my less energetic moods, I can empathize with what laboratory rats must feel like).
I didn't mean for this to be a diatribe; I fully understand that the future is a place I can't go. I am fascinated by the fact that money follows successful novelty at the expense of -- well -- infrastructure, for one.
When the next dark age comes, will society have to be re-learned -- again???
In spite of all that, I am an optimistic person (hey, if a BS-Economics won't make a cynic out of you, then nothing will).
But, I'm not a philosopher by nature.
Does anyone have any thoughts about how to accommodate such a dilemma?