I so often agree with most of what you say, but there is a line that is being crossed here. Internet connectivity is changing business and the way families can stay in touch, but never, I repeat never, will a face to face take the place of the best and most productive way to connect. I was so with you on the Community College doing their courses through the net. Knowing how insular all academia is, it is unlikely that a CC will ever tap into an MIT professors content. This just won't happen, but what is possible is that that teacher sit in the very same classroom and teach one day a week via the web. Great idea.
Still, face to face is essential and absolutely never be replaced. Heck we could have PodCamps on the net and no one would have to travel and be in the same spot, right. No, not right, we get together because that connection is vital. You know this, I think you quite possibly could have been a cup of coffee too far into your program when you typed this content.
Troy Turner
· 1 year ago
I disagree with Mr. Lawfer's assertion that the value of "face to face" will never be surpassed by web-based interactions.
In fact, based on what we already know about the way the brains of young people are literally developing & working very differently from those of 25+ yr old people, and based on R&D already underway in top labs around the world, I firmly believe that todays 13 year olds will be able to function at a much higher level of productivity & accuracy than is known today, and that it will be done in an almost 100% virtual world.
Much of this is captured in the concept of the "Digital Native" and Moore's Law, but is also easily seen through the acceleration of the evolution of technology. Back in the "olden days", many generations would live & work on the farm, using many of the same tools & technology as previous generations. As technology "era's" came & went (e.g., Agricultural era to Industrial Age in late 1800's/early 1900's in the US, etc.) each technology "generation" was increasingly short-lived, as it was surpassed by the next advancement. Still, each "technology generation' would encompass several or more generations of man. Three or four decades ago we reached the point in the US where most people were no longer spending their entire lives working for one company, and were not only changing companies, but would also embark on new careers in entirely different fields of business.
We now live in a world that most of our grandparents & great-grandparents would not recognize. A world where each generation of man encompasses numerous "technology generations". The speed with which these technology generations are coming & going, is ever-accelerating.
People currently in their early teens & younger are "natives" of a way of doing things that many of us, while comfortable with, are using as alternatives to the way WE originally learned how to do them. Todays children are learning those ways as the primary way of doing things.
Instead of running down the street to see of johnny can come out & play, Sam text messages Johnny. Jane texts or IM's Suzy for help with homework. A 6th grader texts her social studies project group with the time for their group meeting, and they all log into the video chat room (w/ public & pvt text chat capabilities - or they just use their cell phones) at the same time. Soon, they be meeting in a virtual world such as SecondLife, and by the time todays 6th graders have 6th graders, they very well could be meeting in a full immersion virtual world such as we only see imagined as the Star Trek "Holodeck".
Face to face having maximum value "forever"? Like the handwritten letter home from college, instead of a quick email or text message - or "tweet", it may eventually be considered a very special event, but it will most assuredly become increasingly rare, just as those handwritten letters have become.
PS - And with gas prices predicted to hit $5 a gallon by July 4th, 2008, I think a lot of people are going to quickly "get over" the loss of whatever value they perceive to exist in those face-to-face occasions! ;-)
larrylawfer
· 1 year ago
I wonder who the "we" is Troy quotes. I am familiar with the books discussed but don't find the same conclusion. Life does change technology. I watch my teen IM a friend before he goes down the street or gets in the car. I watch my wife order clothes over the net, I myself use technology every single day for as many encounters as I can. BUT, I repeat we are human and human interaction is paramount. Face to face is first, face to video face is second, technology while being used throughout these processes is and will remain a distant third.
I do not disagree that technology is crucial, we are in the technology era. In the industrial revolution there was a radical shift, but people still provided direction. When Gutenberg invented the movable type and put out the first book, there was a radical change in how people got information, but now hundreds of years later Folklore (the passing down of codes and rules for living in an oral tradtion) still exists. No technology will ever replace human interaction.
Having worked for schools and corporations I realize that it is easy to send an electronic thank you, but if you want to be remembered, if you want to differentiate yourself, put pen to paper and send an old fashioned note on real paper. You will see a difference in your results.
Troy is right in the research and findings he shares, there are radical changes going on, but the human touch and face to face will always rule as long as we are human.
I look forward to an era of telepathic conversation and travel, especially with the way gas prices are headed, but that is not today, or tomorrow.
Troy Turner
· 1 year ago
I believe that Larry and I are actually writing about the same future, just different points on that time line, because I agree with everything he writes, except the use of the word "always".
Our families and their habits sound very similar too, and with the foresight to add on that unlimited texting plan, I'm actually able to afford the 4-5 thousand texts a month my teen sends and receives!
All Comments
I so often agree with most of what you say, but there is a line that is being crossed here. Internet connectivity is changing business and the way families can stay in touch, but never, I repeat never, will a face to face take the place of the best and most productive way to connect. I was so with you on the Community College doing their courses through the net. Knowing how insular all academia is, it is unlikely that a CC will ever tap into an MIT professors content. This just won't happen, but what is possible is that that teacher sit in the very same classroom and teach one day a week via the web. Great idea.
Still, face to face is essential and absolutely never be replaced. Heck we could have PodCamps on the net and no one would have to travel and be in the same spot, right. No, not right, we get together because that connection is vital. You know this, I think you quite possibly could have been a cup of coffee too far into your program when you typed this content.
In fact, based on what we already know about the way the brains of young people are literally developing & working very differently from those of 25+ yr old people, and based on R&D already underway in top labs around the world, I firmly believe that todays 13 year olds will be able to function at a much higher level of productivity & accuracy than is known today, and that it will be done in an almost 100% virtual world.
Much of this is captured in the concept of the "Digital Native" and Moore's Law, but is also easily seen through the acceleration of the evolution of technology. Back in the "olden days", many generations would live & work on the farm, using many of the same tools & technology as previous generations. As technology "era's" came & went (e.g., Agricultural era to Industrial Age in late 1800's/early 1900's in the US, etc.) each technology "generation" was increasingly short-lived, as it was surpassed by the next advancement. Still, each "technology generation' would encompass several or more generations of man. Three or four decades ago we reached the point in the US where most people were no longer spending their entire lives working for one company, and were not only changing companies, but would also embark on new careers in entirely different fields of business.
We now live in a world that most of our grandparents & great-grandparents would not recognize. A world where each generation of man encompasses numerous "technology generations". The speed with which these technology generations are coming & going, is ever-accelerating.
People currently in their early teens & younger are "natives" of a way of doing things that many of us, while comfortable with, are using as alternatives to the way WE originally learned how to do them. Todays children are learning those ways as the primary way of doing things.
Instead of running down the street to see of johnny can come out & play, Sam text messages Johnny. Jane texts or IM's Suzy for help with homework. A 6th grader texts her social studies project group with the time for their group meeting, and they all log into the video chat room (w/ public & pvt text chat capabilities - or they just use their cell phones) at the same time. Soon, they be meeting in a virtual world such as SecondLife, and by the time todays 6th graders have 6th graders, they very well could be meeting in a full immersion virtual world such as we only see imagined as the Star Trek "Holodeck".
Face to face having maximum value "forever"? Like the handwritten letter home from college, instead of a quick email or text message - or "tweet", it may eventually be considered a very special event, but it will most assuredly become increasingly rare, just as those handwritten letters have become.
PS - And with gas prices predicted to hit $5 a gallon by July 4th, 2008, I think a lot of people are going to quickly "get over" the loss of whatever value they perceive to exist in those face-to-face occasions! ;-)
I do not disagree that technology is crucial, we are in the technology era. In the industrial revolution there was a radical shift, but people still provided direction. When Gutenberg invented the movable type and put out the first book, there was a radical change in how people got information, but now hundreds of years later Folklore (the passing down of codes and rules for living in an oral tradtion) still exists. No technology will ever replace human interaction.
Having worked for schools and corporations I realize that it is easy to send an electronic thank you, but if you want to be remembered, if you want to differentiate yourself, put pen to paper and send an old fashioned note on real paper. You will see a difference in your results.
Troy is right in the research and findings he shares, there are radical changes going on, but the human touch and face to face will always rule as long as we are human.
I look forward to an era of telepathic conversation and travel, especially with the way gas prices are headed, but that is not today, or tomorrow.
Our families and their habits sound very similar too, and with the foresight to add on that unlimited texting plan, I'm actually able to afford the 4-5 thousand texts a month my teen sends and receives!