Such a simple statement to have so much wrong

[nettiger]

George Will, today's Washington Post:

Modernity means the multiplication of dependencies on things utterly mysterious to those who are dependent
The fact that anyone thinks this is acceptable to the most basic of knowledge is... well, it's insane

Comments

[nettiger]

The problem is there are so many peopel who are so willfully ignorant of how things work - let's take your hard drive example. You, at least, know enough to know that backups are essential. I've run into people, computer professionals by claim, that don't get this.

I'm talking about people who honestly think pasta grows on trees. That don't get that hamburger and milk come from the same animal. That small eletromagnetic fields get -stronger- out to a certain distance.

The issue of the quote is the implication of the phrase "utterly mysterious". This shows absolutely no situational awareness at all, and that is what bothers me. The outright faith that things will work because they always have, so why worry about understanding it? This shows a lack not only of knowledge, but of curiosity.

It may help, if you're nto familiar, to understand that George Will was debate coach for Ronald Reagan and is a right-wing pundit (and apologies if you already knew this). What bothers me the most is the way he (and a disturbing number of his compatriots) simply don't think this is a problem. That they're utterly dependent upon this "priesthood" of technicians to keep their lives running, and their confidence that these technicians will always be there. (though this is hardly an affectation of solely the right, though that's a subject for another, more complete essay)

To close this out, though, let me take your examples: If you understand mechanics, you understand there are a few parts that are more prone to failure than others. Keeping a spare fan belt with you prevents you from being stranded in that case. Knowing where the fuses are and carrying a few spares does the same. You know hard drives can fail in unrecoverable ways, so (hopefully) you keep backups of your data or set up a small RAID. You've got a little extra food and/or water around because you live in an earthquake zone and there might be supply disruptions for a while.

I'm not saying you have to be an expert in everything, but casual knowledge of the workings of everyday things can help prevent or mitigate to some degree most disasters.