![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
The BBC has an article about how technical jargon confuses people. I didn't give it much thought until I was bored and read the Slashdot commentary. There are a lot of good points either way and it got me thinking.
So, the question is: is it right to expect people to learn technical details? My natural instinct is to say yes, but I have trouble defending that position to myself.
On one hand, I have no trouble saying that if you use a highly technical device without knowing about it, you deserve no sympathy when things go wrong. On the other hand, I certainly don't know that much about cars, yet I drive (more than I would like to) and occasionally put myself in situations where a car failure would be an extremely inconvenient and/or dangerous situation.
I think most of the problems come from the disparity between the reality of computers and how they are marketed. They are not appliances. They are not as simple to use as a toaster, or a sewing machine, or a car. Second only to other people, they are the most complicated, varied, mutable things you will ever deal with. When people find out that they're not a magical appliance but instead an amazingly complicated, amazingly powerful tool they get all huffy about it. This is what really incurs my scorn, because I just can't fathom this response. You're handed the freaking universe on a titanium platter, and you're whining about having to do some work to learn how to use it? Boo fucking hoo.
Thoughts? Am I an hypocritical, elitist technocrat, or am I just surrounded by drones who should stick to throwing beer cans at their TV?
So, the question is: is it right to expect people to learn technical details? My natural instinct is to say yes, but I have trouble defending that position to myself.
On one hand, I have no trouble saying that if you use a highly technical device without knowing about it, you deserve no sympathy when things go wrong. On the other hand, I certainly don't know that much about cars, yet I drive (more than I would like to) and occasionally put myself in situations where a car failure would be an extremely inconvenient and/or dangerous situation.
I think most of the problems come from the disparity between the reality of computers and how they are marketed. They are not appliances. They are not as simple to use as a toaster, or a sewing machine, or a car. Second only to other people, they are the most complicated, varied, mutable things you will ever deal with. When people find out that they're not a magical appliance but instead an amazingly complicated, amazingly powerful tool they get all huffy about it. This is what really incurs my scorn, because I just can't fathom this response. You're handed the freaking universe on a titanium platter, and you're whining about having to do some work to learn how to use it? Boo fucking hoo.
Thoughts? Am I an hypocritical, elitist technocrat, or am I just surrounded by drones who should stick to throwing beer cans at their TV?
no subject
I think what we were talking about that one time, about people refusing to apply logic to computers (and banks), is the reality. It's hypocritical and elitist to consider people stupid if they don't already know what you do-- and there's an unfortunate majority in the computer arena who behave this way. It's perfectly reasonable, however, to consider people stupid if they shut off their minds completely and then get mad at you for knowing what you do-- and there's an unfortunate majority in the mundane arena who behave this way. And therefrom arises the clash. People need to be willing to learn-- but you also need to be willing to teach them.
Take your analogy. You don't know about cars-- but when the car breaks, you find out as much as you can, and if it's something you can fix, you do, but if it's something you can't, you take it to someone who can. And *there's nothing wrong with that*. There are some things on the car you just can't fix, and you have to defer to the people with more knowledge (and better tools) than you. Experts exist because nobody has time to learn everything, and not everyone is interested in every skill. Likewise, there's nothing wrong with owning a computer and not knowing how to fix everything about it, and taking it to the people with more knowledge and better tools when there's something wrong with it. What's wrong is the people who say 'don't tell me anything, I don't want to know, I just don't get this computer stuff' and treat it like it's a big magic object that follows no rules whatsoever. (That drives me nuts too, though probably on a less advanced scale than you because it's on a less advanced scale that I encounter it.)
I guess it's all about degrees. I have a cow-orker who today referred to the CPU as the monitor, and when I asked what he meant, said 'oh whatever, I'm just not a computer person.' I don't think it's unreasonable to expect people to get the NAMES right. Of course, we're kind of talking about knowing the engine from the windshield, at that point.
On the whole, I think both the technocrats and the drones largely suffer each from their own brand of closed-mindedness.
On a lighter note, I meant to ask you if you'd read this Onion article Steve showed me, called something like "It's Not Nice to Know More Than Other People."