Hoffer epitomised
| A letter in this week’s Economist - entitled 'Technology Plus': “With all due respect to the benefits provided by my computer and my mobile phone, I find that neither can offer the reliability of the ultimate computing device, my slide rule.” In the space of 36 words, Mr Joseph Rosen, of Lincoln, Massachusetts, displays the breathtaking hubris of the old world savant, and offers the perfect illustration of Eric Hoffer’s words: “In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” I still own 2 beautiful British Thornton slide rules – one belonged to my father, a craftsman toolmaker, and the other I asked for as a Christmas present the year I started secondary school in 1969. I still remember my pride in my ability to outstrip users of the the first handheld calculators when they started to appear in schools during the early ‘Seventies. Despite the fact that I have, over the past 4 decades, forgotten all but the most basic knowledge of how to use them, I will not part with them. The slide rule is undoubtedly an elegant piece of precision mathematics fashioned from a few pieces of plastic or bakelite (and the real marvel of which was made possible by the extraordinary work of John Napier in his strange quest for ‘the number of the Beast of the Apocalypse’ – instead of his metaphysical goal he instead gave us, “A Description of the Wonderful Law of Logarithms”). [This, according to Elspeth Wills, in her book, "Scottish Firsts"] But, elegant and beautiful and precise as a slide rule might be, it is a tool from a previous age, an age that no longer exists. The slide rule is certainly reliable. Let’s give it that. But the ‘ultimate computing device’? That, I suspect, is a holy grail that will always be just over the horizon of the prevailing state of human invention and discovery at any one time. At the present time, I would suggest it is the latest manifestation of the computer, or it could be found somewhere in that global conjunction of computers, networks and humanity that is the current rendering of the Internet. Be real, Mr Rosen, and recognise the age you now live in. |
© John Connell
The views expressed in this weblog are entirely my own and are not intended to reflect the views of any other individuals or organizations. All sources will be fully acknowledged.
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