Tag Archives: technology

What Is Progress?

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What is this thing
Called progress? I asked a girl, who stood alone,
But her phone
Did ring
And technology (the king)
Who rules all
Led her to answer that call.

What is progress? I asked a teenager sitting at his laptop.
He answered me not
For he was engaged in the plot
Of a game in his bedroom
Which he played long into the gloom.

What is progress? I asked the statistician.
She gave me rhemes of data to analyse
Which led me to pedition.

What is progress? I asked my dog as he lay in the sun
He did an answer lack
But rolled on his back
Just for fun.

We must transform into Cyborgs or become irrelevant as AI takes over the world, Elon Musk claims

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This article, “We must transform into Cyborgs or become irrelevant as AI takes over the world, Elon Musk claims”, (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4220202/Elon-Musk-thinks-AI-human-symbiotes.html), prompted me to pen my poem of 13 February, (https://newauthoronline.com/2017/02/13/mans-destiny/).

Man’s Destiny

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“Man’s destiny is …” they say
And, looking far away,
Weave fancies in the air
(For which I do not care).

To sit by an open pub fire
Fulfils my heart’s desire,
Yet they can not leave it alone
(This desire to transform skin and bone
Into silicone).

I hear the ticking clock
And feel inner peace,
But they will not cease
In their search to unlock
That which, perhaps keeps us sane,
(This imperfect human brain).

“We must transcend
The human and ascend
To the sky.
We can be as gods, you and I”,
They proclaim.

Shall I mention Icarus’s name?
A passing commotion
In the ocean
There was when the boy fell,
Or so the mythologists tell.

Variety is the spice of life

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One of the advantages of being blind, is that it enables me to live in a world composed of many and varied surprises. To take one example, when opening a can I am never quite sure whether it’s contents will delight my taste buds with Baxters vegetable soup (please note that other brands are available)! Or custard …! It is, I often think fortunate that my guide dog, Trigger eats a complete dried food, otherwise who knows what I might be enjoying the next time that can opener goes to work …
Today I popped into my local supermarket and purchased (amongst other items) 2 boxes of microwavable porridge and 1 box of Earl Grey tea bags (again other varieties of tea are, of course available)! On reaching home I found that I had 3 cardboard boxes and was faced with trying to ascertain what each contained. By placing the boxes together I discovered 2 where of the exact same size while the third was of different dimmentions. Given that I had bought 2 packs of porridge I therefore correctly concluded that the odd one out in my interesting collection of boxes must, of necessity be the tea. Had I purchased a greater variety of packages I would, almost certainly have required sighted assistance to determine what each contained.
Things are easier for visually impaired people than was previously the case. For example all medication now comes with braille labelling, which as a user of this medium is extremely helpful to me. Again most bleach now comes with a braille label clearly identifying it as such, although many other poisonous products, for example toilet cleaner do not.
There are solutions to enable visually impaired people to label products, for example a hand held device allows those with sight difficulties to record a short note on a plastic card identifying products which can then be affixed via an elastic band or string. However this solution relies on sighted assistance to identify the item in the first instance thereby enabling the VI individual to label it.
A hand held scanner has been developed allowing blind people to identify products and I am considering purchasing one. In the meantime I remain thankful that my guide dog eats dry rather than tinned food …!

New Laptop

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Back in early 2011, I purchased a Sony Vio laptop (the machine on which most of my writing is done). I had, of course owned both laptops and desktop computers prior to buying the Sony. I do, however have no hesitation in stating that the Sony Vio is the most stable machine ever owned by me. This may stem in part at least from the fact that it is equipped with Windows 7 while previous machines worked utilising earlier versions of the notorious Microsoft operating System Vista. (Anyone who has had the misfortune to work with Vista will, I believe have their own tales of woe, made up of crashing operating systems due, in large measure to the amount of space taken up by Vista and the instability of the operating system).
During my visit to Liverpool, over the Christmas holiday in 2014, I knocked a cup of tea over my trusty Vio which lead to me having to replace the laptop’s keyboard (given it is a good old workhorse I was happy to pay the £60 entailed in doing so). Ironically, on returning from Liverpool (having attended the Christmas festivities in 2015), I found that the hard drive of my Vio had given up the ghost and required to be replaced. Again I paid for the machine’s repair.
All things do, however come to an end and this Christmas I received a Linova laptop as a present. Later this morning my friend Jeff is coming round to assist in setting up the new laptop. Being blind, I require assistance as Windows laptops/computers do not speak “out of the box”. My friend will ensure that the latest version of Windows 10 updates, then help in installing Job Access with Speech or JAWS (the software which converts text into speech and braille enabling visually impaired computer users to utilise Windows machines).
My Sony will, over time retire. It will, however remain as a spare machine.
I will be sorry to see this happen. It is, as I said at the start of this post, the laptop on which the lion’s share of my work has been produced. I am familiar with it’s workings an have become rather fond of it (well as much as one can become fond of a non-living object)! I am keeping my fingers crossed that the new Linova works as well as my good old Sony Vio laptop …

Posting A Letter

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Posting a letter yesterday,
On my way
To the pub,
I pondered on this red survivor of a vanishing age.

People flip the page
On devices unknown
In my youth.
Wrapped up in their phone
Do they ponder on the age-old truth
That all fades away, as the vehicles that wiz so fast
By this survivor from the past?

I remember a time when the postman brought more than junk mail.
Now when the email fails
We are all at sea,,
While the luddite in me
Yearns for letters and the feel
Of something real.

The Robots Are Coming

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A speech by Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of England in which he predicts that over time upto 15 million jobs are at risk of automation in the UK. The occupations at risk include that of estate agent, call centre operative and customer service roles.
The Industrial Revolution saw the replacement of the artisan craftsman by the cotton mill but, ultimately the jobs market adjusted to the change and mass unemployment (as invisioned by Carney in the present instance) did not result. However the past is not, of course an infallible guide to the future although we can learn much from history.
One job which does, in my view remain safe is that of barmaid and barman. Particularly in locals (pubs which serve a group of “regulars”, for they are much more than places to which people repair in order to drink. There is, in a good local a tremendous rapre between the bar staff and the “regulars” with friendships and, on occasions relationships being forged across the bar. While in vast supermarket-like pubs (which usually serve an ever changing customer base) I can envisage vending machines playing a much greater role and perhaps replacing bar staff (other than a manager or 2) completely, I cant see this happening in all pubs. Indeed its perfectly possible that having “real” staff behind the bar will be a selling point for those pubs who retain them.
For the article please visit, http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/mark-carney-speech-robots_uk_584675e1e4b07ac724498813.

Digital Heroin for Children

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Research claims that children spend upto 5 hours a day glued to their smart phones, people’s attention spans are shrinking as a consequence of over exposure to technology and those aged under 18-years-of-age should use technology for no more than 2 hours a day. This is all worrying stuff, however if one digs beneath what some might consider as the hysterical headline, “Digital Heroin for Children”, it becomes obvious that not all researchers agree with this gloomy picture. Others argue that gaming can enhance intellectual capacities. A number of contributors also make the point that it is a matter of parental control, for example employing a “no mobile phones at the table” rule and limiting the amount of time children can go online.
As a child I spent much of my time reading and could, at times be anti-social preferring the company of a novel to that of my fellow human beings. I also well recollect, when growing up the concerns about the over exposure of youngsters to television. It was an oft repeated mantra that those who watched “the box” excessively would get “square eyes”. Are we seeing the same panic over the internet as we saw over television?
My own view is that the internet can be addictive. It is easy to go online with the intention of checking if Jo Bloggs has replied to that email only to become distracted by a blog post from one of your favourite bloggers. Being blind I am not a typical internet user as a fair portion of my time online can be traced back to the fact that I am visually impaired. I cant read print and therefore get much of my news via the world wide web. Had I the ability to read print I would buy a daily newspaper (perhaps several) and, as a consequence spend less time surfing the web. When I am online for protracted periods I feel tired and gain a huge sense of wellbeing by switching off the computer and doing something completely different such as reading a braille book or going out into good old fresh air!
So are we going to hell in a hand cart or are we seeing a mad panic over nothing? We cant uninvent the internet (and I wouldn’t wish us to do so), but we can (and in my view should) use it and other forms of technology responsibly (this is particularly the case with children where parents have big responsibilities).
For the article please visit, https://www.google.co.uk/search?site=&source=hp&q=digital+heroin+for+children+daily+mail&oq=digital+heroin+for+children+daily+mail&gs_l=hp.3…8107.23246.0.23739.39.36.0.3.3.0.688.4563.18j15j5-2.35.0….0…1c.1.64.hp..1.15.1897.0..0j35i39k1j0i67k1j0i131k1j0i131i67k1.NNPO7t1T7qU

Cryonics

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It is a will-o’-the-wisp, followed by the frightened or blind,
Who themselves bind
To the delusion, that the mist does not forever close
Over mouth and nose.

There are few posies for the departed,
Just an idea started
In the mind
Of those who would salvation find
In a deep freeze,
Designed to please
The ego
Of people who fear to go
Down that dark track
From whence none come back