One of the things that stood out to me while reading this text was the fact that pencils were never made to be writing utensils. Considering as long as everyone has been alive in my family, pencils were used for writing (and only writing… never really considered them being used for anything else), it seems absurd that their original purpose was for something totally different.
As the pencil was not initially made for writing, in the text, it is said that “Similarly, the mainframe computer when it was introduced was intended to perform numerical calculations too tedious or complex to do by hand.” So, the computer was originally made to be but a calculator. It seems that as the years go by, previous inventions that are originally made for other things are transformed into bigger, better forms of technology that can be used for various purposes.
The one point that I thought I would agree with (because well…it’s kind of important) is when the text read, “Ten years ago math teachers worried that if students were allowed to use calculators, they wouldn’t learn their arithmetic tables,” and “When we began to use computers in university writing classes, instructors didn’t tell students about the spell-check programs on their word processors, fearing the students would forget how to spell.” I would argue that this has certainly come to pass. Even using myself as an example; I know that since I have begun to use calculators whenever I needed to do any math, and used Microsoft word whenever I needed to write a paper, I have definitely forgotten how to do quick math and actually spell words correctly without Microsoft changing them for me. I would argue that the ease of these programs is helping to make me a little denser – but then again, maybe it doesn’t matter.
As the pencil was not initially made for writing, in the text, it is said that “Similarly, the mainframe computer when it was introduced was intended to perform numerical calculations too tedious or complex to do by hand.” So, the computer was originally made to be but a calculator. It seems that as the years go by, previous inventions that are originally made for other things are transformed into bigger, better forms of technology that can be used for various purposes.
The one point that I thought I would agree with (because well…it’s kind of important) is when the text read, “Ten years ago math teachers worried that if students were allowed to use calculators, they wouldn’t learn their arithmetic tables,” and “When we began to use computers in university writing classes, instructors didn’t tell students about the spell-check programs on their word processors, fearing the students would forget how to spell.” I would argue that this has certainly come to pass. Even using myself as an example; I know that since I have begun to use calculators whenever I needed to do any math, and used Microsoft word whenever I needed to write a paper, I have definitely forgotten how to do quick math and actually spell words correctly without Microsoft changing them for me. I would argue that the ease of these programs is helping to make me a little denser – but then again, maybe it doesn’t matter.