Do old, proven technologies attract certain mindsets?

[George Papantoniou]

I had an experience at work yesterday. One of my coworkers, in an almost bragging way, said that he had actually seen (not used) a rotary phone. The kid was born in 1984. I was in college then. Discussion of rotary phones ensued and I wondered if pulse dialing even still works now (I don't know, nor do I have a regular POTS/PSTN line to even test it) but I know it won't work on my VoIP line. I wondered if there were some sort of pulse to DTMF converter so I could use a rotary phone, because I am thinking of setting up one room in my basement I'm building out with everything circa 1965-1975 or so. I said it might sound odd but - then he interrupted me and said, "nah, makes sense, you're old, it's what you grew up with."

Well. I'm glad it made sense to him, but "you're old?" At 51?

As I said before WRT people hovering around while under the dark cloth of my view camera, [queue Foghorn Leghorn voice] "Go, I say, go away son. You bother me."

I'm trying to remember that movie, in which there was a gag about a girl trying to dial a number on a phone with a rotary panel and not getting to figure out how it works (there was some kind of emergency). She just pushed the numbers with her long, painted fingernails and nothing happened...

 

[George Papantoniou]

Do you wish to live your daily life with less automation? Do you think that washing dishes by hand is no harder than using a dishwasher (where you practically have to partially 'wash' the dish before you place it onto the right rack?). When you drive a long distance, do you prefer 'to be told' each and every turn, from the time you leave your driveway, or do you, like I do, prefer to see a complete mapping of the trip, from the onset, and then decide, on your own, how you will tackle that journey? Do you tend to anticipate WHEN you will stop, and where, given the ability to pre-determine rest stops, or do you wait until you are in need, and only then, do you start looking for possibilities? When you read a book, do you want a 'Kindle' or would you prefer to have a paper version where you can pencil notes in the margin?

We used to be somewhat "luddite" in our life philosophy... no TV, no cellular phones, listening to LPs (and CDs) on our stereo system... we resisted for a while... but slowly (and steadily) the advantages that modern technology has to offer got into our life, to make it more effective (theoretically).

Now we both own smartphones, gps devices, technical nanotechnology clothing, we watch blu-rays on an all-digital home-cinema, use tablets and PCs for a multitude of everyday tasks and keep updating our life's "automation" step-by-step... for example, our next project is a smart heater thermostat that can be controlled through the wi-fi connection using a smartphone from a remote point (even when you're away from home).

The upside: we can communicate when out of home (quite practical some times), we don't have to carry so many things when going out (the smartphone acts as filofax, walkman, phonebook, alarm clock, gps navigator etc etc) and sometimes spare money (renting a movie is much cheaper than the trip to the multiplex + 2 tickets, for example), we are safer and feel more comfortable when we go cycling on a mountain, etc.

The downside: those infernal machines make life very complicated sometimes, as they need constant maintenance (updates etc), get obsolete very quickly and break down often. Finally, we end up having paid more that we have saved (probably) to get them, maintain them and replace them when the time has come...

On the other hand, we still don't watch TV (disgusting !!!), we cook from scratch and listen to LPs (sometimes).

I could write a very long essay describing different cases of fails of modern technology, as well as the old one... and on the other hand the cases when it saved us from difficult situations... but I guess that almost every one has some similar stories to tell nowadays...

I have to say though, that the old stuff is much more fun to use...

 

[Roger Cole]

I have a mix. I have vinyl, and CDs, and digital files, and listen to each at different times on different devices. Love my iPhone. I have a digital 3D 1080p projector with 5.1 surround sound home theater and love it. I don't hate everything new, I just like a lot of things old.

 

[Truzi]

When traveling to Hocking Hills, Ohio, we often stop at Dead Link Removed on the way (despite being lactose intolerant).

We were talking to the owner one day, and he explained their fail-safe system. First, when employing a new teenager, they teach them to COUNT CHANGE!

They also have some vintage mechanical NCR cash registers. They maintain them very well, and have the electronic add-ons. However, they keep the cranks just in case of a power failure. Credit/debit transactions use a credit-card machine connected to the internet, but as a fail-safe, they keep a modem active (and ultimately, the old swipe-machine).

 

[blockend]

This summer I had to confront the awful truth that my iPhone shots were better than any photography I'd done for decades. This was for two reasons. The first was technical, the small sensor gives a massive depth of field which, along with the high contrast daylight, suited the subject. The second and most important reason was the charged emotional nature of the topic would have excluded anything that resembled a real camera, or at least changed it in undesirable ways.

As someone with an attraction to process which analogue systems provide, whether it be putting a stylus on a vinyl record, or mixing developer, the idea than all that ritual can be replaced and something artistically superior emerge at the other end, is something I still have to get my head around.

I remember an interview with Barry "Dame Edna" Humphreys the comedian, where he admitted his extensive antique book collection was simply a way of pretending he had ballast, instead of being a figment of his own imagination who belonged nowhere and might float away entirely. I think analogue systems with their hardware index dials and rituals represent a similar kind of certainty, and not one we can easily throw off. Outcomes alone aren't always enough.

 

[gleaf]

Proven technology means 'mature' to me. The problems are known and the wisdom is being passed down to new practitioners. There are work around methods known to be problems, for the over sensitive or under sensitive reactions. The down side is market share dropping and financial realities set in. Dwindling availability of spares and repair parts as the old fabrication processes are retired. For example 40 years ago they threw away 10,000 electron tube tweeking in the production run. Now there is no 10,000 tube run quantity as full production. What you get is much less stable in its low quantity custom production run. There is a 20 year out spot of old 60's technology that rapidly closes by 40 - 50 years. Newer digital things are often out of production in under three years. It is hard to finish a design before the parts you panned to use are no longer recommended for new production these days in electronics.
Happy keeper of the flame life style.

 

[analoguey]

Proven technology means 'mature' to me. The problems are known and the wisdom is being passed down to new practitioners. There are work around methods known to be problems, for the over sensitive or under sensitive reactions. The down side is market share dropping and financial realities set in.

+1

Also, to the OP -whether proven or 'bleeding-edge' tech, both require a 'certain mindset' to buy.
Age and experiences colour it, of course.

 

[blockend]

Progress as an idea, is largely mythical. Ideologues cite examples like anaesthetic or universal suffrage, both of which I fully commend, but what have we lost along the way? To buy into progress, especially the instantly outmoded world of digital photography, requires an almost religious commitment to the superiority of this new thing over that old thing.

To take photography seriously, at some point you're going to have to invest in the ability of the equipment to enable the vision, something believers in progress rarely do. They want the next but one thing, and they want it yesterday. That is not good for anyone's head.

 

[David Lyga]

To take photography seriously, at some point you're going to have to invest in the ability of the equipment to enable the vision, something believers in progress rarely do.

Sagaciously said, blockend. I knew there were logical 'reasons' for the love of analog.

Immediately new and immediatly 'old', digital provides us with a superior theory of image caputure that just might not synergize with the staying power of the actual hardware. And ... I knew that there was a reason that all those 'superior' autofocus film bodies out there simply cannot find a home. Sometimes we want 'machines' to conform to our inherent way of thinking. - David Lyga

 

[blansky]

Progress as an idea, is largely mythical. Ideologues cite examples like anaesthetic or universal suffrage, both of which I fully commend, but what have we lost along the way? To buy into progress, especially the instantly outmoded world of digital photography, requires an almost religious commitment to the superiority of this new thing over that old thing.

To take photography seriously, at some point you're going to have to invest in the ability of the equipment to enable the vision, something believers in progress rarely do. They want the next but one thing, and they want it yesterday. That is not good for anyone's head.

OR, throw off the shackles of process and concentrate and enjoy "photography" or whatever you wish to call it, where the goal is not process and equipment but instead the final product.....the print. And not just the print, but the subject of the print.

And even further to that treat the process as tools. And create art with whatever tools are available to you.

Because the tools have and always will change.

 

[blockend]

OR, throw off the shackles of process and concentrate and enjoy "photography" or whatever you wish to call it, where the goal is not process and equipment but instead the final product.....the print. And not just the print, but the subject of the print.

True.