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<\/a>An illustration of where technology is headed<\/p><\/div>\n
For a long time, according to Western views, knowledge and man\u2019s ability to use technology remained relatively non-existent. The knowledge of history passed from one generation to the next by storytelling. While China was the first to invent paper and a true woodblock printing press, it was not until Johannes Gutenberg invented his version of the printing press that westerners began acquiring a sense of collective history. In the latter 1800s, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, Nicola Tesla began perfecting commercial electricity, and Thomas Edison conceived the light bulb.<\/p>\n
Shortly after, in 1903 the Wrights flew their heavier than air flying machine at Kill Devil Hill near the beaches in North Carolina. Afterwards, the imagination of humans really seemed to increase and the curve started becoming exponential.<\/p>\n
The faster technology increased, mankind acquired and retained more knowledge easier than any time before. As the global community plunged into World War II, the need for more technology increased. The military and universities throughout the world met the demand.<\/p>\n
By the end of the war, rocket science was born. The Germans used the V-1 \u201cBuzz Bomb\u201d and the V-2 rocket to terrorize the English near the end of the war. (See The Last V-bomb Casualties<\/em><\/a>.) This led us into the 1950s, to the beginning of the space race.<\/p>\n Today young people are expert with their smart phones, digital cameras, computers, and more. All of these things make our lives more productive and easier. We can do things with technology that were impossible in the past. The question now becomes, can we still do the job without the technology?<\/p>\n A friend of mine, another journalist, emailed me a very interesting article. It was the account of a journalism class challenged to put out their last publication of the year without using modern tools and technology. They had to complete the task without computers and magical software.<\/p>\n As my friend pointed out, the interesting point of the article was that while journalists recorded the history of the world around them, they failed to record how they<\/em> once did their jobs of preparing the news and presenting it to the public. There was a day when reporters banged on manual typewriters, developed black and white prints, measured by column inches, and use proportion wheels. All of these tools and the art of producing a newspaper or magazine with them are gone.<\/p>\n Like the ancient sailors who plied the seas under sail, the steam locomotive engineers who understood steam engines, the old journalists who wore fedoras with press credentials stuck in the headband are now a mere memory in all of our minds. Contemporary reporters do not understand the old ways and cannot effectively do the job without today\u2019s technology. Many have said the same of other occupations.<\/p>\n When it comes to flying, a similar concept holds true of the modern day pilot. Some pilots are almost incapable of operating an aircraft without technology. On occasion, pilots have refused to fly if a part of their technology failed or was working improperly. The NTSB files contain too many instances of aviators who crashed perfectly good flying machines because a technological gadget in the cockpit was consuming their concerns.<\/p>\n It is the perceived mean, old, cantankerous flight instructor who makes his or her students into damn good pilots. He or she does this by emphasizing the foundational skills of flying the airplane\u2014with and without\u2014modern technology. Sometimes the student doesn\u2019t understand the why<\/em> in the middle of training. It is only later, when faced with an in-flight emergency, do they come to understand and appreciate the old instructor\u2019s efforts.<\/p>\n In Ernest K. Gann\u2019s flying memoir, Fate is the Hunter<\/em>, Gann\u00a0writes about his mentor\u00a0during the DC-3 days, Captain Ross. After a particularly grueling flight, Ross looked at a rattled Gann as they left the airplane and said, \u201cAnyone can do the job when things are going right. In this business we play for keeps.\u201d If you have not read Gann\u2019s Fate is the Hunter<\/em>, you should. I read this book a long time ago at the beginning of my aviation career. Gann\u2019s recounting of the lesson he learned from Ross is timeless for all pilots.<\/p>\n While I enjoy my technology, I have always remembered Captain Ross\u2019 lesson.<\/p>\n -30-<\/p>\n \u00a92011 J. Clark<\/em><\/p>\n Subscribe by email<\/a><\/p>\n Note: Email subscribers, please go to <\/em>my blog <\/em><\/a>\u00a0to view vids<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Well, I guess I have graduated from the School of Geekdom\u00a0at the University of Hardknocks. Following this past week\u2019s computer emergency, with the help of some friends, a couple of manuals, and the Internet, I was able to teach myself … Continue reading