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Off the Grid

stephenfry.com

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Re: Off the Grid

#131

Post by clock_tower »

lkozma wrote: post #118
nadam wrote: post #92

As someone who uses the internet in a healthy way and healthy dose, i think this article is like when an (former?) alcoholic suggests to all the people to not even drink one beer occasionally. Seriously why should I not use email to communicate with people far away from me on interesting topics? Why would I not look up things in Wikipedia? Why would I not look at Fecebook once a day for 2 minutes to see whether there…

you can of course use it as much as you want -- but I thing the broader point of the author holds: for a generation that is supposed to be rebellious, there is a surprising amount of conformism in accepting these tools as something that need to be used all the time.

It's best to think neither in terms of rebelliousness nor conformism, but in terms of right and wrong -- the standards by which we determine whether rebellion, or conformism, or withdrawal, or some other act are appropriate. Aging hippies and aging squares are both stopped clocks, wrong at least as often as they're right...

That said, I'm with the author in one respect: I don't have a Facebook account and never will. Constant connectedness is the enemy of deep understanding of the world -- although drugs, pinball machines, and basking in one's alleged superiority to the squares are also its enemies.

Re: Off the Grid

#132

Post by clock_tower »

stuartaxelowen wrote: post #129
grillvogel wrote: post #120

"Because the bombardment of pseudo-realities begins to produce inauthentic humans very quickly, spurious humans—as fake as the data pressing at them from all sides. My two topics are really one topic; they unite at this point. Fake realities will create fake humans. Or, fake humans will generate fake realities and then sell them to other humans, turning them, eventually, into forgeries of themselves. So we wind up wi…

And what is true?

Well, it's true that if you don't eat you'll die of starvation. (Or, if you happen to be in a computer simulation at the moment, that if you don't run through the acts which the simulation reckons as simulating eating, you'll end up in the state which the simulation reckons as dead, after having been in the state that the simulation reckons as starving -- which is the same thing from your perspective.) Perhaps something larger can be built out from there.

I think that what RKD is saying (whoever he is) is that large-scale manufacturing, plus a healthy dose of cheap plastics, have cut us off from physical construction and from the constrained but rather satisfying (at least when contemplated in hindsight) way of how we used to live. That, and he read enough _Dune_ that he's now talking like a Bene Gesserit...

Re: Off the Grid

#133

Post by clock_tower »

squeaky-clean wrote: post #101

I agree that most of us should be "off the grid" more than we are, but not for any of the reasons he suggests. There's no real reasoning to this argument, just "It used to be like X before the internet, so the internet is bad." But with no reasons why X is good, as if it's obvious, but the modern ways seem better to me. > Well maybe they should consider this for a moment. Who most wants you to stay on the grid? The a…

But thinking you're better than everyone else is the whole point of the article! Take away his pride, and what does Fry have left?

(I'm not sure if I should include a smiley with this or not, to be honest.)

Re: Off the Grid

#134

Post by grillvogel »

clock_tower wrote: post #132
stuartaxelowen wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what is true?

Well, it's true that if you don't eat you'll die of starvation. (Or, if you happen to be in a computer simulation at the moment, that if you don't run through the acts which the simulation reckons as simulating eating, you'll end up in the state which the simulation reckons as dead, after having been in the state that the simulation reckons as starving -- which is the same thing from your perspective.) Perhaps someth…

>RKD is saying (whoever he is)

Philip K Dick. He wrote this essay back in the 70s and was talking about what you mention as well as the impact of things like TV but I think it is even more relevant in the internet age. Based on the rest of your comment I think you'd enjoy his work.

Re: Off the Grid

#135

Post by specialist »

uhtred wrote: post #38

It's interesting that I was at an itunes free gig in London back in 2010 at the Camden Roundhouse (band was Bombay Bicycle Club and they were very good), and Stephen Fry made a pre gig speech (obviously paid by Apple) to say how marvellous the iphone was and how although some people criticise social media , it is a marvellous thing that helps people feel less lonely, amongst other things (and the iphone helps people…

"Either way, let's assume he believed it..."

Sure. We all go thru phases, cycles. So do relationships, hobbies, habits.

I now help admin an org's web presence. It's fun, for now. In a few years I'll go back to being a hermit.

Re: Off the Grid

#137

Post by hundchenkatze »

sk8ingdom wrote: post #124
stuartmalcolm wrote: post #26

Am I the only one struck by the irony of an advert for his book in the middle of this post?

I've started to give a pass on this sort of thing. A lot of time the author doesn't have direct control over the publishing medium. The text is Stephen Fry's, but the site design, ads, system administration, url, etc. are likely all managed by someone else. Journalists similarly shouldn't be held accountable for the ads that appear next to their articles in magazines or the local paper no matter how ironic. The fact…

Well, in this case the publishing medium is presumably owned/controlled by him since it's posted on http://www.stephenfry.com

While he may not have the knowledge to modify the site himself, he could tell the people he's paying to remove the ad. It's most likely the case that he wants the ad.

Re: Off the Grid

#138

Post by clock_tower »

SpeakMouthWords wrote: post #4

The good folks of tumblr have a succinct counter-argument to suggestions like this. It is, and I quote: "durr hburr technology is bad fire is scary and thomas edison was a witch"

But fire _is_ scary, technology is a mixed bag at best, and as for Edison, well, I'm not sure I'd put it past him after how he treated Tesla.

Seriously, I had to read that line twice to realize that it was intended sarcastically. I think I just Poe's Law-ed myself.

Re: Off the Grid

#139

Post by clock_tower »

grillvogel wrote: post #134
clock_tower wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, it's true that if you don't eat you'll die of starvation. (Or, if you happen to be in a computer simulation at the moment, that if you don't run through the acts which the simulation reckons as simulating eating, you'll end up in the state which the simulation reckons as dead, after having been in the state that the simulation reckons as starving -- which is the same thing from your perspective.) Perhaps someth…

>RKD is saying (whoever he is) Philip K Dick. He wrote this essay back in the 70s and was talking about what you mention as well as the impact of things like TV but I think it is even more relevant in the internet age. Based on the rest of your comment I think you'd enjoy his work.

Interesting. I keep hearing that name, and probably will look him up...

Re: Off the Grid

#140

Post by nazgob »

tomrod wrote: post #100
Jtsummers wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not? Assuming access to books (library, bookstores) and journals via a library (should be present in most schools or within a school district, decent libraries in my rather small town), a student would be in the same situation as most pre-2000 students, many of whom succeeded just fine.

Pre-2000 students had access to card catalogs within the library. Most libraries nowadays use the Internet to support their many locations' cataglogs.

Never seen a library without a computer onsite. Most of the time you can use it only to search for books etc.
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