Computers degrade human mentality

Fact of the matter I don't that it's the sole fault of technology that the basic skills that were once taken for granted are becoming something of a lost art. This would primarily seem to be a trait that is more and more evident with a group of people that has become complacent. I spend a great deal of time with my nose rooted deep in some book, I fear that this is because I don't really want to see what most of the masses that I am surrounded by are doing.
Technology, computers in this particular instance help to perpetuate a loop that has been moving along since the renaissance, our age of discovery and science. We all, myself included, like the idea of what our gadgets can do for us because they can enhance our learning curve.
It is hard to speculate as to what our alternate history without the massive strides that have been made, but I feel pretty confident in the belief that as changes come to us, we tend to fear that we are losing what was felt in the past. Progression is normal. Fear of a lost heritage is also normal. What is seen throughout the ages though, is that as we start advancing as a whole, our trends will rise and fall. That is to say, we will seem to lose touch with some of the fundamentals that have made us and everything we have, but there will again be a renaissance, a new age of re-learning.

In reference to the card and calculator question, that's pretty bad. It's one thing to use something as a labor saving device. But I think you need to know how to do the labor without the tool if you have to.

Exactly Preacherman!
Like you said, it's one thing to use a calculator to save time in work and stuff, but to use it to do VERY simple math is ridiculous!

Chefer, what you described, "reading books" is something else that is a loosing art.....
With television, movies and videogames, many people (myself included) have no interest in reading books.... I myslef has been trying to read more books.....

Of course, computers can help educate you also. There are vast amounts of educational resources available that you access with a computer. You can learn German on line. I'm sure there are sites where you can learn math, learn to appreciate art. I guess computers are like any other tool. They have good points and bad.

I mention reading books only in passing, not as a focus. The difficulty I am suffering here is that we are a group that is highly complacent as a whole. We are very happy to let something else do all the work. Unfortunately that is the reason that slavery was so popular, and why we domesticate animals. What I see more commonly than not is that people are happiest when they have someone, or something else, doing a majority of their thinking for them. I know none of you as individuals, and as such I am not well positioned to speak of the habits of any one here aside from myself. However, I am still compelled to believe that on average, people are lazy. We, myself included, will do what ever we can to simplify things, and alleviate workloads of any nature, physical or mental.
The heartening portion of this is that We can see that history will repeat itself. The scales will not all dissimilar from the view points of those in the past. I look merrilly toward the idea that we as a people will feel some fashion of enlightenment, and will actually want to become more involved in every step of the process, from the fundamentals, to the completion of a project. It seems likely that a renaissance will arise.

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...do you believe that we are losing our "touch"? Have we allowed the computers to think for us?

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No, computers don't think for us. We think for them and I don't think that we're losing our "touch". These technological advancements in IT, science, etc., would not be possible if we lost our touch. I'm sure most people know how to add, subtract, and do basic math as well as read, write, spell, etc. All things are simplified by computers.. spell checkers, thesarus, calculator, etc.. they're just tools and they're not replacing the ability for us to think for ourselves. Erm.. well, I hope not.

Remote_Access_

Ah ha! Even the mighty Remote_Access_ has doubt! :D *joke*

It is true that computers can be the great learning tool of today.... taking on what Preacherman said, finding things online to aid us in learning like math, well www.math.com is a great site for that...

We do think for the computer because we are the ones who program the computer....
The computer is the dumbest thing on earth, it does nothing unless a command is given to it.

It a question of how you use technology and how well you educate yourself....

But now here's a question that came to mind after reading Remote_Access_'s post....

If we program computers to make them "think".... then does that mean the programmers are thinking for others people???? (If someone relies on a computer for answers, aren't they actually asking a programmer?)

Wow, now that's deep thinking Tyger I can just hear the hamster in it's wheel. LOL. But you are right
Tyger, and I agree with you in some ways but not in others. For some (Like AOL users) who do not
want to have to think when they are online or how things work or how they get done, then yes they
are relying on the programmer(s) who wrote the programs they use. And they do not test the programs.

For the rest of us we are curious and are not satisfied (for the most part)to just have something do
what it does. We want to know how, and why. So we use the programs we have and we test them out
we try and make them crash or attempt to break through securities and not to rely on what the programmer
was thinking when he/she wrote it, but to help them out and to better their skills at programming so that
securities become better and windows doesn't crash as much ( :) ya right).

For the most part we are curious and not satisfied with just because. We are elite. If everyone was like
us then life would be boring and we wouldn't be able to discuss this wonderfull topic.

Phew that took a lot of thinking. *is that smoke Dr. I smell smoke*

It basically leaves the question, who thinks for whom?

Are computers thinking for us?
Who thinks for computers?
Are programmers thinking for us?

Also, more and more people are getting glasses to see 20/20.... why? Some people believe it's due to the prolonged exposure of radiation to the eyes... how? staring so close to television sets and sitting before a computer screen for so long...

Can someone argue that? What else could cause this?

Technologies were invented to fit our lazy nature. But if kids can't do simple math, kick them to Europe or the main Asia countries like China, South Korea, or Japan and make them study there for one year, and that should do!