Re recent Feyerbend and related discussions: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A32411-2003Feb5?language=printe r
<excerpt> For the fifth time in my career here, everyone at the paper has been summoned to hour upon hour of classes on yet another new computer system that's supposed to boost productivity and improve life on our planet. Computer training has become the living hell of the American workplace, a loathsome ritual that highlights the mounting battle between the computer cognoscenti and us mere mortals. To the tens of millions of Americans whose lot it is to stare into video terminals for most of our waking hours, each new system is more confounding than the last, and each new product strips away many of the advantages of the previous system. The computer industry defies the pattern of all previous technological revolutions, making little or no progress toward convenience. It takes much longer to turn on your machine in the morning now than it did 20 years ago. The reaction of the clueless masses is to grumble and crack wise and then meekly accept the commands of our techie masters. [...] My boss says she has one more change of systems in her before she is so diminished as a human being that she will have no choice but to retire. One of my most intellectually keen colleagues was reduced during this latest round of training to incoherent babbling on the screen, culminating in a pathetic plea to be allowed outside for recess. With each advance in technology, I believe I have lost some significant chunk of my personality, some measurable portion of my soul. </excerpt>
