On Dec 25 2006 11:16, Randall R Schulz wrote:
On Monday 25 December 2006 07:19, Mathias Homann wrote:
Now, imagine an internet where all users know what they're doing...
How much do you know about the fabrication and / or the internal function of these ordinary things or systems:
- Automobiles
I'll answer: "Not much". (What do I care how things are designed?) However, I _know_ how to use a car, getting from A to B. I have almost no clue about the internal guts (C code) of Linux Memory Management, yet I almost instanly wrote a BSD kernel driver. The LDAP API is horribly undocumented, but maybe one day I manage to get done what I want. Have you ever tried the "Inferno OS"? Do so. Learn to play around while not screwing up. I have not driven a bus yet, but it's probably not fundamentally different. To run a helicopter, I might need to do a lot more RTFM and practice, but it can be mastered. What people lack is methodology.
If you happen to have access to The Science Channel (http://science.discovery.com/), check out a program called "How it's Made" (http://science.discovery.com/fansites/howitsmade/howitsmade.html) and you'll realize that specialization of knowledge in fabricating "ordinary, everyday" objects and consumables has reached an astonishing level.
howstuffworks.com also has lots of data.
The point is, that it is _not_ up to users to posses in-depth knowledge of a technology they're using. They cannot be ignorant of the consequences of those technologies, lest we end up...oh, I don't know, rendering the planet uninhabitable...but every little detail should not be the responsibility of a technology consumer. That's the engineer's job.
If my water supply is out of order, I gotta call some technician to fix it. Right. So should users when they are unable to use the Internet. -`J' -- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org