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Feb 27, 2009

This week we're doing a show with a bit of fluff and some hopefully interesting substance. We open talking about a movie we saw recently, the stop-motion feature Coraline. After that, we move into the meat of the show as we examine technologies are so woven into the fabric of daily life that we don't even notice it anymore. Fire, shoes, the phone....all so common we barely notice them, but how critical do they become when they're gone? Enjoy!

Opening Music: "Alive WIP v2" by George Carpenter
Closing Music: "Blau.ton" by Rauschwerk

ten and a half years ago

Thanks Raf, I missed that clip. Excellent. The plane thing is true. Thought I hate to fly, it is a wonder and we seem to be fresh out of wonderment. People are just annoyed that everything doesn\'t run more smoothly. Well. A while back there were no planes. A while back there were no cell phones. A while back, cars didnt have Navigation, or televisions, or ten cd changers, or heated seats or any of that shit. We are living on the edge and people are just so ungrateful for how lucky they are. Oh well. Maybe we have to get bored to constantly push for the next horizon?

Dave (UK)
ten and a half years ago

As I started to type I actually thought of something you may have left of. A little abstract although hardly esoteric. Yes gentlemen, something most people take for granted. A simple technological achievement without which civilisation would have failed to launch.

I bring you...


Now yes, with this we can also bring in written and spoken language; which nicely segues into what I was originally going to write before that particular epiphany.

The point, which you guys skirted around the edge of (not being the actual topic), is that without these simple things we take for granted the whole human social system collapses. Now, if you said to me could I make fire I would probably say yes. I know a few different methods for creating fire without modern tech. BUT, can I make paper? It has something to do with wood pulp and whatever I came up with would probably resemble blotting paper that I\'d masticated for an hour.

Point is, without paper and/or a practical means of information conveyance we risk descending into a \"Dark Age\". The humans have made remarkable advances but all this stands upon very precarious foundations. What\'s the point of diagnosing an illness if you can\'t fabrication the syringe or vaccine to make the patient well. How can you build a forty story building if you don\'t know how to calculate architectural stresses and again make the desired steel with which to construct.

For me the book does remain at the pinnacle of our knowledge.
How are you going to learn how to make shoes when the battery on your kindle goes flat and you can\'t generate electricity?

Dave (UK)
ten and a half years ago

Bollocks. I really must learn to type out long responses and re-read before submitting. \"Off\", not \"of\" and \"fabricate\", not \"fabrication\".

Forgive me.

rafael (peru)
ten and a half years ago

I got a good invention: FOOD. Cooked meals.
Hell yes. Changed our digestive system and all, modified our biological evolution, etc.

ten and a half years ago

also, i don\'t if you\'ve seen this (enphasis on the video at the end):