(1) I do not see that computers are bringing us one step nearer to anything that does matter to me peace, economic justice, ecological health, political honesty, stability, good work.
(2) What would a computer cost me? More money than I can afford and more than I wish to pay to people whom I do not admire. But the cost would not be just monetary. It is well understood that technological innovation always requires the discarding of "the old model" what would be supсrseded would be not only something, but somebody.
(3) To make myself as plain as can, should give my standards for technological innovations in my work. They are as follows:
- The new tool should be cheaper than the one it replaces.
- It should be at least as small in scale as the one it replaces.
- It should work clearly and demonstrably better than the one it replaces.
- It should use less energy.
- If possible it should use some form of solar energy
- It should be repairable by a person of ordinary intelligence, provided he has the necessary tools.
- It should be purchasable and repairable as near to home as possible
- It should come from a small, privately owned shop or store that will take it back for maintenance and repair.
- It should not disrupt or replace anything good that already exists, an this includes family and community relationships.
ПЕРЕВОД
Почему я не купил компьютер
1) Я не вижу, что компьютеры привели нас на один шаг ближе к чему-либо, что имеет значение для меня мир, экономической справедливости, экологического здоровья, политической честности, стабильности, хорошей работы.
(2) Чего компьютер стоил бы мне? Больше денег, чем я могу себе позволить, и больше, чем я хотел бы заплатить людям, которыми я не восхищаюсь. Но цена не будет просто денежной. Он хорошо понимал, что технологические инновации всегда требует отбрасывания "старой модели", что будет замещена не только чем-то, но кем-то.
(3) Для того, чтобы сделать себя как можно простым, следует дать свои стандарты на технологические инновации в своей работе. Они таковы:
- Новый инструмент должен быть дешевле, чем тот, который он заменяет.
- Он должен быть, по крайней мере небольшой по масштабам, чем тот, который он заменяет.
- Он должен работать четко и явно лучше, чем тот, который он заменяет.
- Он должен использовать меньше энергии.
- Если возможно, следует использовать некую форму солнечной энергии
- Это должно быть подлежащее ремонту человеку обычного интеллекта, при условии, что он имеет необходимые инструменты.
- Это должно быть покупаемым и подлежащем ремонту как можно ближе к дому, как это возможно
- Это должно прибыть из небольшой, частной собственности магазина или хранилища, который примет его обратно для обслуживания и ремонта.
- Он не должен разрушать или заменять что-нибудь хорошее, что уже существует, это включает в себя семейные и общественные отношения.
WEB JAM
Res Rocket Surfer hasn't headlined a major concert, and they don't have any gold records. But they've played all over the Internet globe as the world's first cyber-band.
Computer software called the Distributed Real-Time Groove Network (DRGN) lets groups of musicians jam on the Internet. It's like being in a chat room, but instead of talking, you play instruments.
Each player sends his part of the impromptu jam session live through the Internet. A musician in Germany might start the beat by playing drums. Then someone else in England adds bass, and a person in the United States plays the melody with a lead guitar — all at once.
When you start playing, DRGN blends the music together, making it seem like everyone is playing at the same time in the same place — even if there are delays on the Internet.
DRGN was developed by Matt Moller and Canton Becker in March 1995. "DRGN provides the opportunity for people to meet and play music together who would have never met otherwise," Moller said. "People will be able to form global bands easily without the hassles of geographical boundaries."
ПЕРЕВОД
WEB JAM
Res Rocket Surfer не озаглавил крупнейший концертн, и они не имеют никаких золотых записей. Но они играли по всему Интернету земного шара, как первая в мире кибер-группа.
Компьютерное программное обеспечение называется Distributed Real-Time Groove Network (DRGN) позволяет группам музыкантов застревать в Интернете. Это как в чате, но вместо того чтобы говорить, вы играть на музыкальных инструментах.
Каждый игрок отправляет свою часть импровизированного джем-сейшн жить через Интернет. Музыкант в Германии может начать бит, играя на барабанах. Тогда кто-то в Англии добавляет бас, и человек в Соединенных Штатах играет мелодию с гитары - всю сразу.
Когда вы начинаете играть, DRGN смешивает музыку вместе, заставляя ее казаться, что все играют в то же время в том же месте - даже если есть задержки в Интернете.
DRGN была разработана Мэттом Моллером и Кантоном Беккером в марте 1995 года "DRGN предоставляет возможность для людей, чтобы встретиться и играть музыку вместе, кто никогда не встретился бы иначе," сказал Моллер. "Люди будут в состоянии сформировать глобальные группы легко и без суеты географических границ."
TEXT I. PREHISTORY
(1) Tools are any objects other than the parts of our own bodies that we use to help us do our work. Technology is nothing more than the use of tools. When you use a screwdriver, a hammer, or an axe, you are using technology just as much as when you use an automobile, a television set, or a computer.
(2) We tend to think of technology as a human invention. But the reverse is closer to the truth. Stone tools found along with fossils show that our ape-like ancestors were already putting technology to use. Anthropologists speculate that using tools may have helped these creatures evolve into human beings; in a tool-using society, manual dexterity and intelligence count for more than brute strength. The clever rather than the strong inherited the earth.
(3) Most of the tools we have invented have aided our bodies rather than our minds. These tools help us lift and move and cut and shape. Only quite recently, for the most part, have we developed tools to aid our minds as well.
(4) The tools of communication, from pencil and paper to television, are designed to serve our minds. These devices transmit information or preserve it, but the do no modify it in any way (If the information is modified, this is considered a defect rather than a virtue, as when a defective radio distorts the music we're trying to hear.)
(5) Our interest lies with machines that classify and modify information rather than merely transmitting it or preserving it. The machines that do this are the computers and the calculators, the so-called mind tools. The widespread use of machines for information processing is a modern development. But simple examples of information-processing machines can be traced back to ancient times. The following are some of the more important forerunners of the computer.
(6) The Abacus. The abacus is the counting frame that was the most widely used device for doing arithmetic in ancient times and whose use persisted into modern times in the Orient. Early versions of the abacus consisted of a board with grooves I which pebbles could slide. The Latin word for pebbles is calculus, from which we get the words abacus and calculate.
(7) Mechanical Calculators. In the seventeenth century, calculators more sophisticated than the abacus began to appear. Although a number of people contributed to their development, Blaise Pascal (French mathematician and philosopher) and Wilhelm von Leibniz (German mathematician, philosopher, and diplomat) usually are singled out as pioneers. The calculators Pascal and Leibniz built were unreliable, since the mechanical technology of the time was not capable of manufacturing the parts with sufficient precision. As manufacturing techniques improved, mechanical calculators eventually were perfected; they were used widely until they were replaced by electronic calculators in recent times.
(8) The Jacquard Loom. Until modern times, most information-processing machines were designed to do arithmetic. An outstanding exception, however, was Jacquard's automated loom, a machine designed not for hard figures but beautiful patterns. A Jacquard loom weaves cloth containing a decorative patterns; the woven pattern is controlled by punched cards. Changing the punched cards changes the pattern the loom weaves. Jacquard loom came into widespread use in the early nineteenth century, and their descendants are still used today. The Jacquard loom is the ancestor not only of modern automated machine tools but of the player piano as well.