Mobility and Technolgy

 According to AI

Here are the specific details of what the CIA built:

 The Device: The CIA's system was code named Discus. It was a massive upgrade from their earlier, clunkier 1970s prototype, "Buster," which required a shoe-box-sized base station.

Capabilities: Discus consisted of two handheld terminals small enough to fit in a coat pocket. It featured a built-in keyboard and automatically encrypted cipher messages. It could transmit text data to a second receiving unit (held by a case officer) from hundreds of feet away. 

 Historical Context: While Discus was a major leap forward for intelligence tradecraft, it was entirely distinct from the cellular networks consumers know today. The very first true handheld cell phone network and cellular calls were independently pioneered by Motorola and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) between 1973 and 1979.

Sunday, November 17, 2024 

 Tuesday, February 11, 2014

I do not use a Mobile
 
Mind you I have a land phone.

Read this in tandem with attention deficit (new syndrome defined by me) below.
 
This is something I posted elsewhere.

I have 100 or more reasons why I do not have or use a cellphone.

I will list them as they come to my mind but not in any order of priority.
 
As an intern, I hated all calls mobile included since it meant, a batch of new arrival of small kids who have arrived in absolutely appalling condition.

Some of them fitting due to low blood sugar nearing zero.
 
In fact, I had 8 to 10 kids whose blood sugar and CSF sugar levels were down to zero.
 
The government at that time told the public it was due to encephalitis and I proved them wrong even before my medical registration completed.
I used to take blood samples to Medical Research Laboratory in Borella and come the next week to collect the reports.

This is during Sirima and NM and Covinn time.

Then in 6 months later when I went to collect my own data they had disappeared mysteriously from, medical records.
 
Then, what I did subsequently, I have to pen down on a latter date of my life, nearing my death.

One thing was sure, leaving this messy Health Service and I decided to leave the Public Health Service for good and I was glad I did that and if you read Dengue Dilemma elsewhere, in my writings, one can easily guess it.
 
It has deteriorated in quality even though, it has expanded.
 
As a doctor, I hated bad news by telephone.
 
We rarely hear good news when on duty.
 
Later in life when cellphone came, I believed in CPP (Calling Party Pays) and flatly refused a cellphone.

It is a public nuisance.
 
It is a nuisance when the cellphone owner has switched it off when one really need him / her.
 
When you travel on a public transport one cannot have a snooze to drown the inconvenience with frequent telephone interruptions.
 
I love silence in public places.
 
Even though, I don’t use it, I have to foot the bill (kid's telephone bills).
 

No work get done in public officers.
 
They are busy answering their private calls of nature and it is more frequent than the real call of nature.
 
It is cheaper to redirect a message by email that should end up as a junk or a piece of gossip.
 
We use it for gossip not for creative work.
 
It is private enemy number one when you own a debt the bank or telephone company a small sum in arrears and the reminders by them costs more than the amount you actually own them.

I think you got the picture correct.

I think it is enough for today but I will add more on future date when I run short of a topic to write.
 
Memory and Gadgets
Attention Deficit Related (Mundane gadgets like tablets) to Technology Addiction.

Many years ago, I posted an article on the web regarding memory specially in reference to Buddhist Monks of yesteryear (not today´s TV acting Maha Mewna Type) and all the points except my assertion on Mediation Practice (focused attention on the present moment) was copied by an Author of the Scientific American Publication and most recently by another author.

This is one reason, I thought of writing a few books before my memory fails by default and due to old age.

It is rather loss of short term memory and now I have coined a fancy Medical Term.

Few years ago (I still do not take a note or reminder but devised a 24 hour simple protocol to enhance day to day activity), I noticed lapses in my memory and got activated.

1. I won´t use the telephone but buy the  cheapest cellphone when I go abroad and drop it to a bin at the airport (this is the biggest handicap and in the middle of your work, one may give a call with a low priority-gossip related call).

When I tried to do that long time ago, one of my relatives in Singapore asked for it and duly obliged. Another one I used for sometime gave it free to a classmate of mine.
His son had lost his expensive cellphone when traveling to Colombo by bus.

Who Cares for an expensive cellphone.

Thank God, one can switch off the cell, then what is the use of a telephone, if it is not doing it's job, simply transfer a message.

I use my land phone at my discretion since I pay the bill.
Not even the Telecom (delay in payment) or the a bank officer can break that law and break into my freedom.
 
2. Won´t sit in front of the TV and watch web videos unless it is related to animals, especially Elephants.

One Baby Elephant dead was trapped in a tree in this country.

There is a video of an elephant mum protecting its young baby from hyenas (we have to protect the young one's from political hyenas and some rabid monks in saffron cloth).

3. I live with living things, the dog, fish, and plants, including water plants.

All three will die if I do not have some simple protocol, not so rigid but to remind me that there are other life forms on this planet, in relation to me.

Fortunately fish can go on for 10 days without food.

If neglected any longer toxic algae will kill them.

A dog will die within three days without water, if there is no care giver.

Believe it or not Dogs never use telephones even in an emergency.
 

They only BARK.

My dog in particular will start barking for no reason when I am on the phone.
 
He wants me to stop talking quickly and he has not got a degree in economics but he knows how to cut my telephone bill.
 
The garden will go to wilderness in no time.

All these little things one has to be mindful, however busy one is in day to day life, even if one has servants to look after these odd jobs.

They will never do them right in my experience.
 
4. Use the computer and the email productively.

5. Keep in touch with family and family friends in person.
When one sees a friend, just stop for a few minutes and greet them and have some empathy. You may not see them again could even be run over by a vehicle driven by a fast track lumpen with a cellphone in hand.
 
I am predicting now with Facebook and low priority web videos, the present young generation will hit a very low point, in their middle age with Attention Deficit and I am going to coin the Medical Term, Attention Deficit Related to (Mundane gadgets like tablets) Technology Addiction (AD-R-TA- RTA stands for Road Traffic Accidents and some of these gadgets may trigger an accident on the road too).