Just when you think that some newfangled device is the best thing since sliced bread, you then find out that the awesome convenience you now rely on is actually making you less intelligent. This is called “Convenient Technology”. It turns out that human physiology is more complex than simply making some tool extremely convenient.
Just what is a demanding technology? Three elements are defining: it is technology that takes time to master, whose usage is highly occupying, and whose operation includes some real risk of failure. By this measure, a piano is a demanding technology, as is a frying pan, a programming language, or a paintbrush. So-called convenience technologies, in contrast—like instant mashed potatoes or automatic transmissions—usually require little concentrated effort and yield predictable results.
Here is a very cool news article about girls in engineering, from University of Toronto. Girls are smart, they work hard and have all the tools they need to succeed in engineering and computer science. We need to encourage them to do well in all technical subjects. Girls add a new dimension to technical fields, a new way of looking at situations, and a new way of reacting to new problems. Go girls! Big Weed makes her mark in the world.
Back at the University of Toronto, the children’s science course instructor, Michaela Tai, explains the dangers of incorrectly connecting a circuit.
