Yipes! I hope that guy you hired isn't working on medicine for me. "But the computer said it would work..."cubfan64 wrote:For what it's worth, I like having a GPS, but I struggle to make sure I don't rely on it constantly while out hiking. If I do that, I find that I am more casual in watching my surroundings as well as looking at maps and using a compass, and I DON'T LIKE to find myself relying on any piece of technology.
For me at least, I liken it to what happened to mathematics when calculators came out. Eventually students stopped learning the "basics" of how and why math problems can be solved by hand and started relying on calculators (and now I suppose spreadsheets) to do all the work.
That's why so many kids today can't make change at the cash register if it doesn't tell them exactly how much to give out.
Off topic, but a similar rant against technology... I work in a chemical laboratory and we just hired a recent college graduate and found out later that he had spent a grand total of a semester or two (at most) ACTUALLY IN A LABORATORY setting! Almost all of his "lab" classes were done on a computer with software packages to simulate hands on lab work. He had only the vaguest idea of what different pieces of glassware were called, how they connect together and all the other basic information we expected a lab technician should have.
What a sad state of affairs!
Yeah, not carrying a GPS is a good way to keep your common sense and map skills sharp, although, particularly in winter when it might snow, I do see the utility of a GPS. I kind of like maps though.
HJ