On Wednesday 23 November 2005 23:58, Rajarshi Guha wrote: > On Wed, 2005-11-23 at 23:01 +0530, Sayamindu Dasgupta wrote: > However it seems that the link between colonialism and the GUI is > stretched. Not really. But MNCs are different from colonialists. Need to look at some of the CIA documents. Most of their brainwashed lot became stupid when they worked on the GUIs in 1995. So they wanted it to be sent everywhere. The argument was "it is a 'telebision'". > > The goal of the GUI is to hide lower functionality. For the majority of > people that's enough. As for the 'human understandable' CLI, thats a > pretty far stretch: cat, cd, ls are not human understandable, without > study. > That 'enough' is condemning people to less productive states. Pure picturesque reasoning makes people vague and dangerously so in the PC context. How much computation do you think people do to learn their native language ? GUIs hide higher functionality too. A reasonably "complete GUI" for most applications will not leave any space on the desktop. > Of course, for a person who wants to know more details, the GUI is a > barrier - one that can be overcome in the case of Linux et al, but not > in Windows. > > I'm not sure I see the link of how the GUI and its associated > logo-centric approach is a burden on the Thrid World. GUI makes software people into clerks unless they make the effort against it. But still CLI will certainly mean people will know more about specifications. Third World people cannot afford to become cyber clerks for their own good. > > It is in fact true, that most people will simply want to 'run' programs. > I don't see whats wrong in doing that with a GUI. > You need to distinguish between the different types of values of the GUI. For a big majority of the middle class PCs are still objects of entertainment. If somebody introduces a new language and if that is adopted then they can introduce more propaganda or 'make believes' in the language for possible change of priorities in the target population. > I suppose my point is that for the majority of people a GUI is fine for > what they use the computer for. The minority who need to know more will > get what they need. > The point is psychological. Many become stupid slaves by working in the language of the GUI, which simultaneously affects reasoning power. > As an aside I have to agree with the idea of cyber-clerks. IMO, as long > as the bulk of Indian IT is based around handling out-sourced contracts, > i.e. implementing designs made by others, the industry is more or less a > collection of clerks. > At MIT they warn them about landing at Mcdonalds... if all they know is coding. > I'm probably going to be flamed so I'll head to my bunker :) > yes
A. Mani Member, Cal. Math. Soc -- To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the body "unsubscribe ilug-cal" and an empty subject line. FAQ: http://www.ilug-cal.org/node.php?id=3
