Re: The nature of the beast

From: David desJardins <desj@math.berkeley.edu>

Date: Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Henry Penninkilampi <htp@dove.net.au> writes:
> I don't think anyone would disagree that phone calls are more
> efficient than email which, in turn, is more efficient than snailmail
> (IRC would lob between the phone and email).

Before, when Henry said things like, "In addition to the fact that it is
physically easier to read information on a printed page than it is on a
screen, the pages can be spread out so that specific information is
actually easier to get at than navigating through layers of windows on a
computer," I thought he was just a bit naive.  Maybe someone without
much experience with computers would not realize that, for example,
using a search command to jump to a particular section of an electronic
turn report can be a much faster and more convenient way of finding it
than shuffling through pages.

But this is even more silly.  Obviously many people do find email more
efficient than using the phone.  You don't even have to have any
experience with computers to know that.  You just have to observe that
many people do choose to use email, when they could be using the phone
instead.  Is Henry's thesis that they are all choosing email rather than
phone communication in order to waste their own time and make things
harder on themselves?

> thus five minutes on the phone with an ally is not the same as
> spending five minutes writing a letter to an ally (more being
> accomplished, obviously, by the former than the latter).

If talking on the phone is "obviously" so efficient, then why do I find
it so annoying and inconvenient?

It seems to me that Henry just doesn't like email, doesn't like using
email, and is trying to come up with a bunch of reasons why computers
email is good.  Unfortunately, all of his arguments seem to start with
the premise "email is no good".

David desJardins

References

The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Carl Burke <cburke@mitre.org>
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
Carl Burke <cburke@mitre.org>
Wed, 17 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000
Re: The nature of the beast
htp@dove.net.au (Henry Penninkilampi)
Thu, 18 Feb 1999 00:00:00 +0000