Technology isn't all its cracked up to be
7/25/2005What do eggs and computers have to do with fuel rods?
I'm on a diet. Evidently my caloric intake has exceeded my caloric expenditure. ("Caloric" is a unit of measurement for energy.) I try to spend at least 30 minutes everyday working out on a cross-trainer. ("Minute" is a unit of measurement for time.) I usually exercise when I wake up. According to the computer brain on the fitness machine, I am consuming between 300 to 400 calories per session. I then boil a couple of eggs for breakfast, which I eat with salt and 6oz of orange juice. ("Ounce" is a unit of measurement for volume.)
While I work out I listen to my iPod. Since the average album length is around 45 minutes, and my work out is currently only 30 minutes, I can immerse myself in one artist but not finish the work. The faster the beat (another unit of measurement) the faster I tend to move, and I consume more calories on those days. Of course, it also depends a little on how I feel. Some days I wake up with more energy than other days. To the best of my knowledge there is no unit of measurement for this subjective condition. "I feel good" (like James Brown) or "I feel so uninspired" (like Traffic) cannot be calculated by the computer brain. It only asks what program I want (weight loss) my weight (another unit of measurement that will go unrecorded here,) time, and what resistance level. (yes, you guessed it, "resistence" is another unit of measurement: this is controlled by the spacing between a magnet and the flywheel. The spacing "distance" is also, well, you know by now, right?) I suspect that it is scientifically unknowable how many calories I consume by the act of listening. Using an iPod makes the routine more enjoyable. If it were unpleasant, I would probably describe this sequence of events as a "procedure" not a routine. The subjective difference being the operational distinction of how it is described: optimist, pessimist or a pseudo-objective fact.
Due to a lot of trial and error by engineers and previous users, the fitness machine we purchased performs pretty good. The salesman pointed out five or six changes over last year's model. The quality was also a reflection of how much we were willing to pay. The same principles of design were applied to all the machines we looked at, but, this machine had the features that we liked best. It cost more than we had mentally budgeted, but like most long-time Mac users, we knew in the long term it would be a better purchase to select quality rather than price. In the long term, one gets both price and quality from a frugal choice. Our reduced food bill also helps defray the cost of the initial purchase, not unlike the wasted hours of technical trouble-shooting win-doze buyers endure. The experience of choosing an inferior operating system thinking it costs less is readily observable. Thinking "they are all the same" usually comes back to haunt you. We purchased the machine at a small fitness equipment store; the big box retailers had junk in comparison. By taking a little extra time we made a "better" consumer decision. (Better is always relative to what is understood at any particular moment. It is a subjective unit of measurement.)
The unit was made in China, I am not sure where it was engineered. I assume there is an engineer and a capitalist who teamed up to make my marketplace choice possible. The warehouse staff ships locally as necessary, and the marketing department creates the demand by "getting the word out," and signing up smaller companies to handle the growing re-distribution to the masses. "Sales" is the unit of measure for determining success for the manufacturer. The more stores that carry the product, the greater the total sales of the manufacturer. Inventory in a distributor warehouse counts as goods sold from the manufacturers warehouse. That does seem to be the way the current capitalistic system operates, doesn't it? It doesn't matter if the commodity is an apple, an Apple computer or a fitness machine. Should we call it a procedure or a routine?
After my workout I need a shower. I have extra bars of soap stored in the bathroom. Those are extra bars sold by both Dove and the distributors. If Dove has a million users with the same habit of storage, then they have sold many millions extra bars of soap before anyone took a morning shower and consumed more. There is a difference between a consumer commodity like soap and a manufactured machine. I won't be purchasing extra cross-trainers like I purchase extra bars of soap. Nevertheless, the machine I purchased was a result of the small specialty retailer making it available to me. I trusted his expertise more than I do the choices of the mass merchant. Wal-Mart, Sears, K-Mart and Target all vie for being Number One (another unit of measurement,) but being first in sales is not always being "best." What is "best" measuring? iPods sell like bars of soap, laptops sell like cross-trainers.
After my shower I boil two eggs for breakfast. I have worked it out (through trial and error) that 15 minutes is a good time to let them boil from start to finish with a cold stove. I then take my two eggs and run cold water over them. They are hot, too hot to touch, like a nuclear power plant radioactive rod. Just like them, I run cold water over my hot eggs until they cool. Both the hot and cold water is dumped down the drain. (Out of sight out of mind.) I would call my habit a procedure, not a routine, since I used the scientific method of determining the best results and there is nothing personally gratifying in the process. I am simply interacting with outside forces.
The eggs have a personal benefit for me. They give me enough energy to power through the day until my next meal. The chicken has no say in my choice. With nuclear power, the "eggs" hang around for 10,000 years. It isn't a chicken that has no choice, but our own children. And our children's children. And our children's children's children. If the best our technology can offer is to run cold water over a hot lethal object, then clearly technology is not all it is cracked up to be. The scale is bigger, but the technology is the same as cooling an egg.
We marvel at the pyramids. They were built thousands of years ago, without what we would call "modern" machines. Are we really as advanced as we think we are? Can technology solve every problem today and tomorrow, or is deeper thinking required? There is a toxic substance in the pyramids, its called Pride. What will men be saying about our decisions 4000 years from today?
The only difference between now and then is hydraulics, valves, electronic switches and a computer. Perhaps we need to reconsider our routines and procedures before we unexpectedly shed something more valuable than just a few extra pounds of flesh. We might need to be thinking and acting vastly different.
It seems to me that the history of the computer industry resembles that of the nuclear industry. The one makes the other possible. There is something wrong with Reason when the best ideas are last, and the worst designs are first. The more we measure, the less everything measures up.
Can you imagine a world without numbers?