Are computers becoming dangerous?

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Now that Sony has been shut down and cant' even use their own computers to make payroll can other computer systems also be made useless as well. How can our economy survive this kind of problem when it starts spreading?

I discovered that the cashiers at Walmart don't know how to make change without the display on the cash register. My bank teller can't explain the difference between a debit and a credit to my checking account. The front office person at my dentist office does not know what a credit adjustment does to my account balance but knows how to make entries in the office computer program. The cashier at the local convenience store refused to take a dollar coin as payment. I then asked her to break a 100 dollar bill. She asked my what bills I would like. I said 10 ten dollar bills, 2 twenties, 2 fives and 10 ones and she gave me exactly that. I had to give her back everything except for the tens. What's going to happen if computer systems start failing?
 
I think we'll adapt just as we have done with the downfall of the English language on the internet.
 
The part in bold pretty much means the person has no brain power at all to use with common day practices so she is technically useless and a change machine could take her job justifiably.
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I discovered that the cashiers at Walmart don't know how to make change without the display on the cash register.

I am a cashier (for now) and I always look at the cash register to see what change is due... Does that mean I don't know how to make change on my own? No, cashiers have a lot on their minds, and are often multitasking (answering phones, etc) and it is much easier to just look at the display on the cash register than to figure it in your head. It's quicker and you are much less likely to make a mistake.
 
One of my friends in the early 1980s worked for a huge corporation as a systems analysis[t] ? and that may have been before the web was a big thing.He said anything on the computer isn't private. It alway stuck in my mind and he was right. So many people are gullible fools.
 
I think we're becoming overly reliant on technology.

Cashiers checking the display doesn't bother me, I do it in my head anyways.

More significantly, in the news a few weeks back there were reports that the power grid could be disabled by some of these hacks. Why? The grid existed many years before the internet came out. I can see billing being online by why does the actual plant itself need to be on the internet?
 
Originally Posted By: AandPDan



More significantly, in the news a few weeks back there were reports that the power grid could be disabled by some of these hacks. Why? The grid existed many years before the internet came out. I can see billing being online by why does the actual plant itself need to be on the internet?



This is what I do, so I will give you the basics. You have to think beyond the plant. There are always systems downstream regardless of the process involved (power/water/wastewater/gas) for control and data collection. Most agencies have their ICS (Industrial Control System) tied to the internet because the systems are generally distributed over a geographically large area. In order to get the information to a central location (control room/data collector) it is far more cost effective to use the internet than it is to build your own fiber or radio WAN. Basically you can't bill for services used if you can't get at the user data.

An air-gap system requires diligent monitoring and procedures, but is pretty effective at keeping unauthorized parties out.

Google Havex and Blackenergy if you have a few minutes to kill.
 
I had an offsider recently helping me on a job.

I gave him clear instructions on the easiest(quickest) way to get to a local hardware warehouse about 1km away as we needed some supplies for the job.

The simple verbal instructions were augmented with hand signals to demonstrate whilst standing next to him and making eye contact.
They were as follows.
1. Drive down the street to the intersection. And turn right.
2. Go along to the end of that street until you get to the traffic lights at the T-intersection where the vet is on the corner. And turn left.
3. Go up to the top of the hill till you get to the very next set of traffic lights you come to. And turn right.
4. After the turn, as you go down the hill the entrance of the hardware warehouse is located on your right about 100-125 metres after the turn.

His response was "I'll just look it up on Google maps on the phone", or it may have been the nav system in his car. I can't quite recall.

It hadn't occurred to him, that I had already taken the time(my time) to give him all the instructions he would ever need to carry out the task without delay.
He clearly didn't understand that he could've been half way there if he had just listened to me in the first instance, without having to look it up on his electronic devise.
If I didn't know the name of the hardware, he would've taken even longer.
It didn't occur to him, the nav system may have taken him on a different(longer) route, or possibly even in the wrong direction due to a glitch in the system.

He also didn't realize, that I was also assessing him on his ability and competence to carry out the task in an efficient manner.

At the end of the day, he brought the wrong stuff back from the hardware but we got by with what he bought regardless.
When instructed to take a series of notes about the tasks we were undertaking he would reach for the phone. I don't think he understood the value of using a pen/pencil and paper.
If he ever dropped his phone and broke it, he would've been lost and out of the game.

It's actually like they are a lost generation.
Lost in their technology, and dumbed down as a consequence regardless of how intelligent they may appear to be as measured in the education system.
 
Originally Posted By: CT8
One of my friends in the early 1980s worked for a huge corporation as a systems analysis[t] ? and that may have been before the web was a big thing.He said anything on the computer isn't private. It alway stuck in my mind and he was right. So many people are gullible fools.


There was no web back in the early 80's.
 
Originally Posted By: ClutchDisc
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I discovered that the cashiers at Walmart don't know how to make change without the display on the cash register.

I am a cashier (for now) and I always look at the cash register to see what change is due... Does that mean I don't know how to make change on my own? No, cashiers have a lot on their minds, and are often multitasking (answering phones, etc) and it is much easier to just look at the display on the cash register than to figure it in your head. It's quicker and you are much less likely to make a mistake.


Yes but I once bought a meal at Wendy's that was $4.75. I gave the cashier a $5 and for whatever reason the register did'nt show the change due. She had to get a manager! I kept saying "it's a quarter!"

John
 
Originally Posted By: OneEyeJack
I discovered that the cashiers at Walmart don't know how to make change without the display on the cash register. My bank teller can't explain the difference between a debit and a credit to my checking account. The front office person at my dentist office does not know what a credit adjustment does to my account balance but knows how to make entries in the office computer program.

I think we are just trading some skills for others, and it's not a new phenomenon. For example, most of us don't know how to hunt for food or grow crops, like our ancestors did. But does it mean that we're going to die? No, we just go to the store and buy what we need.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducman
I had an offsider recently helping me on a job.

I gave him clear instructions on the easiest(quickest) way to get to a local hardware warehouse about 1km away as we needed some supplies for the job.


I had a coworker (actually boss
mad.gif
) whose 98 Sunfire was low on coolant. I didn't want to explain dexcool to him so I said, go to walmart and get their generic, which I knew to be a dexclone. He of course went to Target and got Peak conventional green.

Eventually the long metal pipe running on the top of his 2.2 OHV corroded and I got to fix THAT, and he took forever to pay me. A prince among men. However, I could manipulate him to my needs at work, and use him as a buffer against HIS boss, so, there's that.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducman
Originally Posted By: CT8
One of my friends in the early 1980s worked for a huge corporation as a systems analysis[t] ? and that may have been before the web was a big thing.He said anything on the computer isn't private. It alway stuck in my mind and he was right. So many people are gullible fools.


There was no web back in the early 80's.


I have worked on large corporate computers since the late 1970s. All large corporations did back then and even more so now go to great extremes to see that the data was only seen by the employees with a need to know. Everything is logged so an employee is risking his job if he/she even tries to look at something they have no business looking at.

Back then all the terminals were attached to the large corp. computers via low speed leased lines. You would need physical access to the leased line or terminal and even then you could only do business transactions, not roam through files. Very secure, but not practical these days.
 
Originally Posted By: Ducman

If he ever dropped his phone and broke it, he would've been lost and out of the game.

It's actually like they are a lost generation.
Lost in their technology, and dumbed down as a consequence regardless of how intelligent they may appear to be as measured in the education system.


I'm gonna try to not take offense to that.
The former is more an indication of how one cares for there things.

Let's for example, change the story from phone to the automobile itself.......
Get back to me when that works out for you.
 
Originally Posted By: John_K
Yes but I once bought a meal at Wendy's that was $4.75. I gave the cashier a $5 and for whatever reason the register did'nt show the change due. She had to get a manager! I kept saying "it's a quarter!"

John

Now that is sad...
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete

I think we are just trading some skills for others, and it's not a new phenomenon. For example, most of us don't know how to hunt for food or grow crops, like our ancestors did. But does it mean that we're going to die? No, we just go to the store and buy what we need.



It's funny, many here think the set of skills that was relevant when they were an adolescent is the most important thing and seems frustrated anyone has moved on.... blissfully ignorant to the fact that those skills were once considered frivolous and could just as easily be made irrelevant.

I mean.... who cares about counting change in your head or by hand. If you're worried all the computers will die why wouldn't you also be concerned electricity as a whole would become unavailable? Or that our monetary system would fail and we would go back to bartering. Seriously, why even teach kids computers. It's all going to be starting fires by hand and trapping a kill for dinner with a bow and arrow you build yourself.

Seriously, I'd love to see someone on here count my grocery bill in their head and not look at a cash register (with tax no less). I have three kids, trust me the cart is overfloweth every time. Cash registers have been around since before anyone who is alive was born. If a minimum wage person looks at it to give you change give them a break.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: John_K
Yes but I once bought a meal at Wendy's that was $4.75. I gave the cashier a $5 and for whatever reason the register did'nt show the change due. She had to get a manager! I kept saying "it's a quarter!"

John


If she had already closed the register, she would have needed the manager to open it and get your quarter.
 
Due to a past wrist injury I much prefer to type out my thoughts, technical documents and other products. My job requires a written log that is maintained, disseminated throughout the company, to other companies we collaborate with, and maintained for nearly forever. So, while I get by just fine writing things down, and even utilize my daily work lists as a note pad (not to mention actual note pads that I keep,) I prefer to keep most of my personal notes on my phone. I prefer electronic logs, and type out attachments every chance I get!

Be it filters, instructions, lists, etc., I prefer to type it down in my phone.

Also, to the gentleman who looks so far down his nose at those who choose to utilize technology, consider that it might have been your superior and condescending attitude that caused an undue amount of anxiety, resulting in the poor results you received. For my generation, and especially for the one behind me, it's much faster and less confusing to simply plug in a destination and go, instead of learning routing in an unfamiliar locale. If the man you're talking about knew the general area and was hired as more than a cheap extra pair of hands, then I can understand your annoyance, but if he's not a professional, then what did you expect?

//

For the guy making fun of the cashier who couldn't give $.25 change, I'm not convinced of the story. I know that I was given [censored] back in highschool if my drawer came up short, so if the register was down, the call for the manager was probably due to the register being down, not an inability to do math. Seriously, some of you and your superior attitudes. This is coming from a cynical guy who thinks most people I encounter have poor decision-making skills, too.
 
AT a Walmart my purchase rang up to $10.16. I gave the cashier a twenty, a dime, a nickle and a penny. She handed me back the change and said the twenty will cover it. I said I would like to have a ten dollar bill back. She responded that "we" would not know what the change would be until she rung it up. I told her to give it a shot with everything that I gave her and when the change read back $10.00 she was completely surprised. I'm only bringing this up because during the previous summer the computers went down and Walmart closed its doors until the problem could be fixed. The same thing happened that summer at my bank. They were out of business because of what turned out to be a simple problem. Just imagine this on a larger scale with a slightly more difficult problem. The results could be catastrophic because there would be no back up methods in place to keep things moving.
 
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