Having a philosophical moment

[John Arton]

This week a extricated myself from the lee of bum island, got out of bed to a nice warm house as the central heating had come on automatically some 30 minutes previously, brushed my teeth with an electronic toothbrush that told me when I spent enough time brushing the stbd, aft molars and it was now time to brush the port fwd. ones. Then I jumped into the shower and had instant hot water. After showering and shaving got dressed, went downstairs, flicked a switch on the electric kettle that automatically switched itself off when the water had , made cup of coffee. Put bread in toaster and a short while later out popped perfectly toasted bread. Ate breakfast.
Switched on T.V. and watched news about how scientists have landed a small spacecraft on hundreds if millions of miles into space and landed it on a comet much less than the size of the Isle of Wight. The next item on the news depressed me as once again certain people are executing others just because of religion. Later my chauffer, excuse me my wife, insisted that I accompany her to the shops so we get in the car where on her switching on the ignition the car performed a diagnostic check of the engine to tell her everything was o.k, told her how many miles of fuel there was left in the tank and then audibly warned me I had forgotten to put on my seat belt, again. As we drove to the supermarket the car was constantly displaying how many m.p.g. we were getting depending upon her speed etc. At the supermarket we filled a trolley full of items that were then passed across a piece of glass accompanied by a beeping noise and when our trolley was emptied the total cost was displayed and inserting a piece of plastic into a machine payment for said items was automatically taken from my bank account. No hand weighing or wrapping and no bashing of keys on a cash register was involved in this process.
On arriving home we stored food items in the refrigerator or freezer as necessary. I then went to the computer and switched it on and read my emails etc. wher I was immediately able to send messages to persons on the other side of the world and they would be able to read it almost straight away. I also read about the latest mega container ship that can carry 19000 containers and has an engine that develops some 46.000 bhp, does 20+ knots, has an engine that is 56ft high yet is manned by a crew of less than 20. All so when we were out driving I was able to speak with one of my daughters using a mobile phone the size of a cigarette packet and she was some 20 odd miles away from us. I could have even done this had I been 60 feet below sea level in the Tyne Tunnel.
Still with me.
Where here is my philosophical moment.
All of the above happened because of our reliance on electricity in its various forms and electronic devices.
Now
I was born in 1950 and although I cannot remember the actual event I must have been there as I am writing this on a computer and after posting it many people around the world will be able to read it, sitting in there nice warm, or coo, houses using electricity and electronic devices.
Until I was 5b years old I never lived in a house that had mains electricity, running water or a bathroom and an inside toilet. Heating was by either a coal fire or a paraffin fuelled heater, baths were taking by filling a tin bath with hot water from a kettle boiled on the coal fired range as was hot food cooked on the same range. Shopping involved going round the butchers, bakers, greengrocers etc asking the shop keeper for the items needed, who would then weigh and package them and ring up the total on a cash register.
Very few homes had a telephone and if they did it was a big black or white thing with a dial that you turned to make a call. Even fewer houses had a T.V. and there was only 2 channels to watch and they closed at around 2100hrs.
Still with me.
My first trip to sea was in 1967 on a less than I year old tanker, we had a radar set, a decca navigator, gyro compass and auto pilot, bridge control of the main engine, Loran and Omega, a D/F .
Navigation in sight of land was by compass bearings plotted on a paper chart along with radar ranges {when the radar worked} or by using the decca navigator lines, navigation away from land involved the use of the sun and stars, a sextant, nautical almanac and tables plus some mathematics to work out position lines. Radar plotting of ships courses to see if they posed a threat of collision was by using a chinagraph pencil to mark the ships on the radar plotting screen or by pencil on a radar plotting screen and using own ships speed and course you worked out a triangle that gave you the other ships course and speed.
For communication we carried a radio officer who sat in his own office surrounded by large pieces of equipment that emitted lots of heat and he either tapped away on a morse key or spoke into the radio telephone attempting to make sense of the spoken words over a background of whistling and scratching coming from the ether.
All of this gear was operated by valves and electric solenoids etc. all e3mitting heat and noise, indeed some gyro compass's were so big and heavy I'm sure they altered the trim of some smaller vessels.
Still with me
Step forward a few years to the early 70's and suddenly rapid change occurred.
The computer became common place meaning that suddenly we had true motion radars quickly followed by ARPA radars. Due to transistor's, diodes, resistors etc. being put onto PLC's equipment became smaller, lighter, emitted less or no heat but most of all became reliable. The pace of innovation accelerated rapidly to the extent that ships nowadays can be manned by around 13 persons who use Electronic charts for giving their positions, bridge management systems and auto pilots to plot and work out the voyage, GPS for position fixing, computers to control the main engine and the auxiliary machinery, computers to work out the trim, stability etc. of the cargo to be loaded and discharged which can all be done whilst sitting in a comfy chair in an air conditioned room, instant communication with anyone any where in the world, you name in around less than 50 years we have gone from a world where letter writing and the mail man was the main means of communication, at sea manual labour ruled. Ashore, if we did own a car, it had a steering wheel, foot and hand brake, gear shift and a speedometer with a petrol, water and oil gauge only on the dash board. Now we drive cars that have a dashboard that lights up like mission control telling us all sorts of information, in car entertainment systems , parking sensors that bleep telling you are about to hit the wall behind you, even cameras that tell you that you are ogling that pretty thing in a mini shirt driving the open top sports car alongside you, too much and are wandering out of your lane!!!
Still with me
Now for the philosophical moment
All of the above depends upon electricity and electronics in its various forms.
Is the world a better place for all these devices? You tell me.
It seems to me that we have almost eliminated the possibility of another world war but have, in certain parts of the world, reverted back to the days of the Spanish inquisition days with tribal and religious wars being committed by a bunch of heathens.
Philosophical moment over, I'm off to watch a re run of yesterdays match where Man. Utd once again stuffed the Arsenal, hah hah!!!!
rgds
JA

[j.sabourn]

Philophosy spelt wrong I know, the first 25 years at sea was stuffing ones head with knowledge to pass examinations for a nautical career to see ones days out. For example how many can remember what the torricilium vacuum was or the principles of sextants baromemeters, aneroids, the beaufort scale, Hygrometers and hydrometers, patent sounding machines etc etc far too numerous to put on here, all now defunct and old hat all suoerceded by electronic wizardry. I have been retired 12 years now and it took me all that time to come back into the land of the shore worker, and call right and left not port and starboard, ceilings are not deckheads and the deck is a floor, the bedroom is not my cabin as is inhabited by some strange female I had to re- aquaint myself with, and learn to talk proper the same as she does. However this all goes by the board when meet up with some ex shipmate in the pub or elsewhere, and next day have to keep my mouth shut and think before I speak as fall back into the old jargon to easily. The old saying once learned never forgotten is very true. JS

[Chris Allman]

I must admit to having moments when I yearn for what was a much more gentler life, in my opinion. You were not immediately available on the end of a mobile phone and not aware of latest news items, which meant that ignorance was bliss. You went in the local grocers, bakers and green grocers where you met your neighbors and friends, passing the day and learning the local gossip as you shopped. You also went in the local pubs with your pals and enjoyed a pint and a game of darts. People spoke to each other, yes, actually spoke to each other and did not walk around with an instrument the size of a pack of cards in their hand, pressing all kinds of buttons and grunting occasionally, completely oblivious to everyone and everything around them. You could actually park your car in town and outside your own house and someone put the petrol and oil into it when you called at a garage. The customer was always right and nearly everything you bought actually worked or was fault free. Yes those times still sit favorably in my mindset and I am beginning to remember them and miss them more and more. Old age, yes, I think it is, but what the hell most are happy memories and I am very grateful for them.

[Dennis McGuckin]

Fully agree Chris,Also. What happened to the small repair shops where you could take almost anything that didn't work, and get it fixed.
Now most items, especially electronics, are throw away.
No wonder we are running out of land fill.

[Neil Morton]

In what is called by the media, "the western world ", we have become a throw away society. That is of course unless one has the where - withal to purchase the very best of everything. Even then, according to my multi millionaire son in law, there is a risk and should a product fail in some way it costs an arm and a leg to get it mended.
As pointed out by my estimable shipmates many of us lads grew up with next to nought. To my mind that makes us fortunate, we learned the value of money, knew we had to work for it and saved to buy the things we treasured. In my house the tally man called monthly for his two shillings and nine pence for the encyclopaedia mother insisted we read nightly.
I had a job from the age of twelve,, both before and after school, to pay off my racing bike. Ours was a narrow world and everyone in the neighbourhood knew just about everyone else. We had one shop nearby for each of our daily needs. Green grocer, sweets and tobacco, butcher, general store, newspapers, post office, fish and chips and a pub. I walked a mile to school in all weathers often with a hole in my shoe and so did all my chums. Fortunately us kids had two large parks within a stone's throw. One was a wild National Trust area where I learned to climb trees, catch tiddlers, gather conkers and the other a council run pretty place where I leaned to row dinghy's up and down a shallow river at a tanner for half an hour. As a consequence of the rowing and bike riding by the time I attended the Vindi I was sound in wind and limb. Compare this to the youngsters of today who are electronic vegetables in some respects, and I include the children of my children in this statement.

[Lou Barron]

In another few years we will be control by robots

[Neil Morton]

I forgot to mention the baker, who during the war years and until about 1949 brought the bread daily on his horse and cart, then he had one of those electric vans. And old Mr Braitheweight the fish monger who in his van on Sunday morning rang his bell and yelled, " cockles , mussels, winkles and jellied eels." A nice bit of smoked haddock was a treat if he had some.

[j.sabourn]

We will also be robots Lou. Robots controlled by robots. John S

[Dennis McGuckin]

Hi Neil.In danger of dating myself.
We had horses up until the mid 50ies.
When I was an apprentice baker and Confectioner.
I used to have to feed and clean the delivery horses. [ I have left myself wide open with that one forJohn]
They were smarter than the drivers [no I did not drive]
They knew which houses to stop at.
How about those milk men.
While on leave and suffering from large hang overs. They would be banging bottles right under my bedroom window at an unearthly hour.
Also recall waking up to the bl**dy a window cleaner peering in at me in bed. Not a pretty sight for him or me.
Often wonder if that's where George Formby got the idea for his song.
Although regretfully, in my case, there was nothing to see 'When I'm cleaning windows'

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
Well I do remember my mother giving me the correct money to go down to the shops week in week out the prices never changed. The local farmer coming around on his horse and cart with big cans of milk unpasteurized and the top thick with cream. A bloke on another horse and cart selling paraffin and oil, the local shop cum post office where the bloke came around every morning with the newspaper then the post.
Now the post man whizzes around on his motorbike, the bread tastes like sawdust at any old price,the milk god knows what your drinking.
But for all that I still haven't got a mobile phone.
Cheers Des
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