obsolete and absolute
- March 2nd, 2008
- Posted in Cool . Technology
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skills that are obsolete. one of ones that touched me was this one. everything from booting off a floppy, to the as/400, programming a vcr, using carbon paper, to star navigation.
i so remember doing that. and actually getting up to turn the knob to change the channell. the knob would get stripped after frequent machine gun rapid turnings up and down the channel selection that you would have to use pliers to change channels. And whatever happened to VHF and UHF? are those obsolete terms now?
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I think it’s fair to say that a “skill” can never really become obsolete. Even something like adjusting an antenna is still relevant for certain tasks (I remember measuring signal strength for wireless devices like the blackberry in an anechoic chamber, which isn’t far off in terms of skill).
Even technologies that are deemed obsolete are frequently re-invented when a new innovation comes along that can make use of their basic principles. Things like star navigation are still used in satellites and spacecraft, and while humans are no longer providing the function the principle remains the same.
BAH. The one that really pissed me off was the suggestion that calligraphy is obsolete…. kind of like suggesting that da vinci would be using MS Paint if he were alive today.