10-5-11

Everyday you learn something new. Today I found out that the computers we know of today have their roots in the 17th century. The first computers were made by astronomers and mathematicians for timing and problem solving. As I continued researching past the origins and into the social effects of computers I found that even in the 80's before computers were what they are now people already had all kinds of predictions of the harm they can bring. Many said they would take away our values of culture. Others said they would take away our values of logic. I find the part about logic very apparent in today's society. If you found a person out on the street and gave them the a random problem eg. 2x+4x+34+61-12=500 and the option to use a smartphone to help them they probably would use the phone's internet to find out how to do the problem and then use the calculator to solve it. My science teacher always says that physics takes the path of least resistance. The same seems to hold true in psychology. I personally value the ability to do something like that without the problem without the aid of computers or calculators. even as I say that I know I am the same way, except I find that I prefer typing over writing because I don't have good handwriting and find it easier to type. Psychology takes the path of least resistance. I do still however value the ability to write even though I prefer not to use it, but as a society people don't even value these abilities anymore. I also saw today that the simplest things can interest people. I leave my water bottle on my table during class and my friend was looking at it and messing with it. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was just "really intrigued by it". I have never thought about how something so simple can be so interesting to someone. My literature group in Language Arts is innovations and later in class she told me how the water bottle was innovative. That simple water bottle was so interesting to someone and now that I think about it, extremely innovative. And they said bottled water would never take off!

"Shoot for the Moon, even if you miss you'll land among the Stars." - Les Brown    

My Computers Symbaloo- http://www.symbaloo.com/mix/computerswebmix