I was asked a really hard question a while ago

stepanser

A guy asked me if the modern day (computer age or whatever) is actually better than the simple life of a long ago. It was a stupid question really. Im interested to know what you would have said.

I said: Well, todays world is incredibly complex and due to computers we have things like globalization et cetera so its very hard to gauge. Basically you just can't compare apples with oranges and that im sure both the simple life and the computer life have their advantages and disadvantages.

Anti

How long ago are we talking about?

Khannie

stepanser wrote:

A guy asked me if the modern day (computer age or whatever) is actually better than the simple life of a long ago.

I have thought about this a few times....and then it hits me....microwave ovens.

End of debate (in my mind at least).

thebman

Well depending on how long ago the good old days in Ireland involved a famine and foreign rule so I'm going to have to go with the computer age.

Besides I can't cook, let alone farm!

liamo

I agree - it's a stupid question. No thought put into it whatsoever.

Better how? In what way? How long ago is "long ago"?

Depending on how long ago you want to go back, life wasn't simple at all:
You might have been born into poverty and sickness; assuming you made it out of childhood you might have a good chance of dying from disease, starvation or violence (take your pick); you probably would have no literacy skills and no chance of improving your lot. Social Welfare? Hah! Work, steal or starve. Medicine consisted of leeches and "bleeding" the patient. People were bought and sold. Life was cheap.

These days, if you can't be arsed to work you get a medical card and enough money from the dole to live on. The diseases of "long ago" have largely been wiped out. Poverty (in the west) generally doesn't exist anymore - and I don't mean "relative" poverty, I mean the poverty that can kill you and your family.

So life is a little more complex. That's not even a price that has to be paid - it's just the way it is.

I don't know what romantic notions your friend has about the simple life of long ago or where he got them but as far as I'm concerned there's not much wrong with life right now - and it gets better all the time.

That's my 2c.

Gaspode

stepanser wrote:

A guy asked me if the modern day (computer age or whatever) is actually better than the simple life of a long ago. It was a stupid question really. Im interested to know what you would have said.

I said: Well, todays world is incredibly complex and due to computers we have things like globalization et cetera so its very hard to gauge. Basically you just can't compare apples with oranges and that im sure both the simple life and the computer life have their advantages and disadvantages.

Long ago, in the context of the modern world, was probably before 1900. Back then things sucked big time unless you were very wealthy. Even then, life expectancy was poor, simple illnesses killed, and recreation was virtually unheard of.
Give me the the modern day any time. At least you have choice, i.e. you can opt out of a lot of technology if you really want to. Back then, there were no options.

All hail the ninternet!

stepanser

liamo wrote:

I agree - it's a stupid question. No thought put into it whatsoever.

Better how? In what way? How long ago is "long ago"?

Depending on how long ago you want to go back, life wasn't simple at all:
You might have been born into poverty and sickness; assuming you made it out of childhood you might have a good chance of dying from disease, starvation or violence (take your pick); you probably would have no literacy skills and no chance of improving your lot. Social Welfare? Hah! Work, steal or starve. Medicine consisted of leeches and "bleeding" the patient. People were bought and sold. Life was cheap.

These days, if you can't be arsed to work you get a medical card and enough money from the dole to live on. The diseases of "long ago" have largely been wiped out. Poverty (in the west) generally doesn't exist anymore - and I don't mean "relative" poverty, I mean the poverty that can kill you and your family.

So life is a little more complex. That's not even a price that has to be paid - it's just the way it is.

I don't know what romantic notions your friend has about the simple life of long ago or where he got them but as far as I'm concerned there's not much wrong with life right now - and it gets better all the time.

That's my 2c.

Yes, I was just about to say they are romantic notions after thinking about it...he was referring to cultures like the red indians and stuff. The guy actually writes poetry and plays and stuff and is completely technology ignorant as in would probably not even know how to work a microwave. To put it simply hes from a different era but without knowing about technology and stuff the question is absolutely stupid given advances in medicine for example.

cormie

I imagine life would have been far better back in the day. As long as you had a roof over your head and a good supply of food and good health, that's really all we need in this life. I imagine far less people were depressed, overweight, unfit back then.

garthv

Asking that question on a website will always be biased

Id go with computers over potatoes any day though

cormie

GaRtH_V wrote:

Asking that question on a website will always be biased

Id go with computers over potatoes any day though

Are you really sure you would though? You'd definitely prefer to be sitting in front of your computer on this lovely day rather than walking through green fields nibbling on berries and fruit with your friends and having nothing to worry about but gathering food for the evenings feed and firewood for a nice open fire surrounded by family and friends?

Shiva

I'd be of the opinion that this was just one of those "personality test" questions HR / Management types sometimes use to gauge how well you think on your feet, and to get some kind of "insight" into your personality.

There wouldn't be any right or wrong answer - but give me the modern life any day. I like my little conveniences !

Moussdog

Modern times have only made you WANT more. You could write a letter on a typewriter instead of a computer. "It's way faster on a computer though" So what? Where does it get you.

You could argue that medical advances are great and I'm not denying it but we have to worry about new diseases and other things that will kill us. To what end are we happy?

Just keep consuming I suppose.

Sniipe

The person who asked u the question had to be an alien, kill him. Either that or he has just come out of the ice age.

Simple question, simple answer; "yes, alot numb nuts!" is how u answer.
Then when he hesitates and deceides to persue the question more u say stuff like; mobile phones, 2 way video communication, ATI 1950 crossfire, C&C generals, GPS, then at this stage u get frustrated telling him what happened in the last X timespan and slap him until he is dead from it.

dulpit

Sniipe wrote:

The person who asked u the question had to be an alien, kill him. Either that or he has just come out of the ice age.

Simple question, simple answer; "yes, alot numb nuts!" is how u answer.
Then when he hesitates and deceides to persue the question more u say stuff like; mobile phones, 2 way video communication, ATI 1950 crossfire, C&C generals, GPS, then at this stage u get frustrated telling him what happened in the last X timespan and slap him until he is dead from it.

On a completely unrelated topic is it sad that i think your sig is quite funny? God i'm some nerd...:(

Sniipe

I can't see sig's as I've turned them off. I imagine ur's isn't as good as mine I also imagine my sig is the binary one.
stepanser, who asked u that question btw? Was it a random drunk? A lecturer, a job interviewer??

Khannie

welcome to boards.ie btw stepanser.

stepanser

Sniipe wrote:

I can't see sig's as I've turned them off. I imagine ur's isn't as good as mine I also imagine my sig is the binary one.
stepanser, who asked u that question btw? Was it a random drunk? A lecturer, a job interviewer??

Twas actually just a fella that lives near me. Bout 60 years of age with secondary school education. Hes actually quite a smart fella usually; a talented writer so he is. Perhaps he was just trying to make conversation and he said the first thing that came into his head. Another theory I have is that he just doesn't understand computers and the effect they have on everything in this world. To him id imagine they are just as significant as say a radio or the tv.

Cuddlesworth

cormie wrote:

Are you really sure you would though? You'd definitely prefer to be sitting in front of your computer on this lovely day rather than walking through green fields nibbling on berries and fruit with your friends and having nothing to worry about but gathering food for the evenings feed and firewood for a nice open fire surrounded by family and friends?

And if the bush's the berry's were on and the trees that grew the fruit, were dying or dead. And winter was coming round, you had little reserves and you knew you stood a good chance of dying. The grass is always greener on the other side, they were not simpler times in terms of worry and responsibility. Things just moved slower.

garthv

cormie wrote:

Are you really sure you would though? You'd definitely prefer to be sitting in front of your computer on this lovely day rather than walking through green fields nibbling on berries and fruit with your friends and having nothing to worry about but gathering food for the evenings feed and firewood for a nice open fire surrounded by family and friends?

Without a shadow of a doubt.

DublinWriter

stepanser wrote:

Yes, I was just about to say they are romantic notions after thinking about it...he was referring to cultures like the red indians and stuff...the question is absolutely stupid given advances in medicine for example.

Agreed. Red Indian society was pretty warlike and based on a warrior-caste. It wasn't all Dream-Catchers and Kevin Costner biopics.

Imagine having to give birth in a field in dem-dere-days. Unreal!

Capt'n Midnight

in the very old days it was 50:50 that you would make it past 5 years of age.

even today the homeless and travellers have a very low life expectancy compared to the rest of us

at the most basic level today we have the choice of taking the other lifestyle if we don't want to stay in the rat race, you just have to accept that you may not have any luxuries ( like health care ) if you do

a lot of people claim the 1950's as being a golden age, or at least a time when the murder rate was lower and most people then would preferred it to the wars in the 40's