> ...of a reason why typewriter folks might
> "survive."

Because one day, maybe all power generators will stop for some reason. There will be no electricity. Computers will not run and the only people who will be able to provide us with written material are those who can use a "clunker".

(I was reading something the other day by an author who gave their grandchild an old typewriter and encouragement to learn to use it before moving on.)

The overall point is quite a valid one.

It's fine to use a calculator... but learn to do it long-hand or in your head first.

I'm reminded of something which is an effort to avoid a potentially massive downside to our modern world. The same downside the ancients never spotted... or if they did, didn't do too much about it.

And that is... the evolution of our language and information storage methods.

What would happen in 2000 years time when someone finds a CD ROM?

You can be darn sure CD ROMs as we know them won't exist. So how can what is stored on the CD ROM be extracted?

One man can up with a novel approach.

First, the CD ROM contains clearly visible text which provides instructions for contructing a magnifying glass. With the magnifying glass you can read the much smaller text which provides instructions for constructing a microscope. With the microscope you can read the extremely small text which provides a set of instructions... and so on and so forth, until you've built a CD ROM drive and a device which can read it and display it.

He views it as a modern day Rosetta Stone, of sorts.

The trick is not to think only a few years ahead, or even ten, but to think hundreds and thousands of years ahead. To a time when technology has moved on and so has the language.

It's a fair bet that there are more people who can write computer programs using VB, C++ and Delphi than know how to write in machine code.

What would happen at a point in time when the developers of VB, C++ and Delphi move on? The knowledge of how their compiler and assembler work to take what the programer writes and turn it into something the computer can understand, will be gone with them. No big deal... UNTIL you need to fix it!

An episode of Star trek touched on this very subject. The crew encountered a peoples who had a machine which could read their thoughts and create what they wanted. It gave them tremendous time savings and allowed them really enjoy life. The problem was... the machine had been built so long ago no one knew how to fix it or how it worked.

I may know how to drive a car, change the oil and plugs and the basic theory of how the combustion engine works... but ask me to build one and you can just forget it.

How many people know how to bake their own bread by hand - gather grain, grind it, and so on? How many know how to track and stalk an animal, kill it, skin it and prepare it for consumption?

Granted, the fact we don't all know these things and have tended to specialize is why we've been able to advance as much as we have. But what happens when all the farmers suddenly drop dead? Who will know how to plant and nurture a field of crops?

And if the next level up ceases to exist, who will know how to take that little white ball of fluff from the plant and turn it into a cotton shirt?

I'm not sugesting we should all go and learn how to spin, and weave, and knit. Merely using those items as a way to express a point by way of example.

How many people know how to start a fire?

It's such a fundamental human achievement... and yet... hardly anyone knows how to do it without the use of lighters or matches or a magnifying glass.

Taking advantage of our modern advancements is fine... after you learn the basics first. Then no matter what happens, you'll be prepared. Your downside will have been covered.

Michael Ross.