Hi, Ryan, At 02:25 PM 1/30/2011, you wrote: >Inspiring post, Jason! And so true. We are so >quick to adopt any technology that promises to >make things faster and better for us, but rarely >do we really consider the costs, which can be many and surprising. Yup. >Cell phones, for instance, seem terrific, yet we >don't hear enough about hear enough about ><http://www.cellular-news.com/coltan/>the mining >of coltan. Also what kind of effect are they >having on our youth? Having a teenage daughter >who probably sends several hundred texts a day, >makes me wonder. ><http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/04/22/us-mobilephones-health-report-idUSTRE63L1ZD20100422?pageNumber=2>The >health effects of using them is only starting to >be studied in a serious manner. Coltan is the very tip of the iceberg. Rare earths, in general, are about the most destructive and polluting things there are to mine, refine and use in manufacture. Yet, at this point in our current technological design and evolutionary processes, just about everything we use is critically dependent on them. One brief example is that of hybrid cars...in each of which there is, depending on model, between 2.2kg and 8.5kg of Neodynium...which, once manufactured into the generators and motors used in hybrid vehicles, cannot be simply recycled; but rather must be completely remanufactured into new products, at a stunning cost to the environment. In two of the nations with the largest known reserves of rare earths, the U.S. and Australia, environmental rules prevent their mining and use in manufacture. Of the other main known/proven repositories, one is in Siberia (where it still isn't economically feasible to mine them), China (which has reduced it's foreign shipments of rare earths by nearly 40% in the last three years), and South Africa (which, while still politically fairly unstable, has recently been in negotiation with China for rare earth mining contracts). There are smaller reserves in North Vietnam, which are currently under contract to Japan; and, reportedly (but not yet verifiably), there are "large" reserves of rare earths in Afghanistan. >And take these internet forums. They seem great, >but as we speak, my wife is coming at me with a >fry pan (cast iron) held above her head like a >samurai warrior. I suppose this means I bett.....***>>>Ka POW!!!<<*** > >end of post. Wait a minute!! You got off with a _frying pan_??? (...perhaps my wounds will heal before WESPAC...) Cheers! Horace >On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 1:51 PM, Jason Kanter ><<mailto:jkanter at rollingball.com>jkanter at rollingball.com> wrote: >First, a BIG sigh. This argument about aural >tuning vs. the ETD has been going on ... in our >craft, since at least the 70s ... in our >culture, for at least 2500 years. It's about >technology. There is, as always, merit on both >sides of the argument, but the only real value >comes from embracing both sides at once. > >Bear with me, y'all, please. Here's a quote from >Plato's "Phaedrus" dialog, and then I'll >paraphrase a piece of it. Socrates is speaking, >recounting an Egyptian legend about the invention of writing: > >"Among the ancient gods of Naucratis in Egypt >there was one to whom the bird called the ibis >is sacred. The name of that divinity was Theuth, >and it was he who first discovered number and >calculation, geometry and astronomy, as well as >the games of checkers and dice, and, above all else, writing. >"Now the king of all Egypt at that time was >Thamus, who lived in the great city in the upper >region that the Greeks call Egyptian Thebes . >Theuth came to exhibit his arts to him and urged >him to disseminate them to all the Egyptians. >Thamus asked him about the usefulness of each >art, and while Theuth was explaining it, Thamus >praised him for whatever he thought was right in >his explanations and criticized him for whatever he thought was wrong. >"The story goes that Thamus said much to Theuth, >both for and against each art, which it would >take too long to repeat. But when they came to >writing, Theuth said: 'O King, here is something >that, once learned, will make the Egyptians >wiser and will improve their memory; I have >discovered a potion for memory and for wisdom.' >Thamus, however, replied: 'O most expert Theuth, >one man can give birth to the elements of an >art, but only another can judge how they can >benefit or harm those who will use them. And >now, since you are the father of writing, your >affection for it has made you describe its >effects as the opposite of what they really are. >In fact, it will introduce forgetfulness into >the soul of those who learn it: they will not >practice using their memory because they will >put their trust in writing, which is external >and depends on signs that belong to others, >instead of trying to remember from the inside, >completely on their own. You have not discovered >a potion for remembering, but for reminding; you >provide your students with the appearance of >wisdom, not with its reality. Your invention >will enable them to hear many things without >being properly taught, and they will imagine >that they have come to know much while for the >most part they will know nothing. And they will >be difficult to get along with, since they will >merely appear to be wise instead of really being so.' > >And here's my paraphrase: >"...But when they came to the ETD, Theuth said: >'O King, here is something that, once learned, >will make the tuners wiser and will improve >their tunings; I have discovered a potion for >temperament, speed, and accuracy.' Thamus, >however, replied: 'O most expert Theuth, one man >can give birth to the elements of an art, but >only another can judge how they can benefit or >harm those who will use them. And now, since you >are the father of the ETD, your affection for it >has made you describe its effects as the >opposite of what they really are. In fact, it >will introduce loss of accurate hearing into the >soul of those who learn it: they will not >practice using their ears because they will put >their trust in the display, which is external >and depends on machine programming, instead of >trying to hear the actual intervals from the >inside, completely on their own. You have not >discovered a potion for temperament, speed, and >accuracy, but for reading a display; you provide >your students with the appearance of tuning, not >with its reality. Your invention will enable >them to tune many pianos without really hearing >them, and they will imagine that they have >become good tuners while for the most part they >will know nothing about the true art of tuning. >And they will be difficult to get along with, >since they will merely appear to be wise instead of really being so.' > >My point? Every technological advance is subject >to this kind of argument. Every advance does >subtract from the human experience, and at the >very same time, every advance also benefits us >in new ways. We drive in cars and forget how to >walk. We watch TV and forget how to enjoy the >passage of time. We email and forget how to >engage in face-to-face conversation. In every >case we could get into pitched battles, >arguments available on both sides. Yet each side >can benefit so much by incorporating the other's viewpoint. > >Judge for yourself which of the voices above are >open to both sides, and which are entrenched. > >Jason > ><snip> >-- >| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| >jason's cell 425 830 1561 >| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| || ||| > > > > >-- >Ryan Sowers, RPT >Puget Sound Chapter >Olympia, WA ><http://www.pianova.net>www.pianova.net
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