Just as CAD has taken the pencils out of the designer's hands, the use of calculators has diminished many peoples understanding of simple concepts that are fundamental to sound and it's reproduction.

Proportional methods of analysis such as Logarithmic Scale and the slide rule give us a direct physical experience which helps us in our fundamental understanding of both pitch and volume... frequency and sound pressure.

The same can be applied to other waveforms such as light energy and frequency (color)... I would prefer that all students learn the miracles of the slide rule (adding exponents of common bases) in algebra class like most of us codgers did in high school. Teach a class with a prism, a guitar and a slide rule, and the world would be a better place.

I can't help feeling old when I try to explain to young University students or recent grads about how 'the chip' has both improved our lives, and also made for a less enlightened and enriched understanding of our world.

Then I just push this button over here... and anyone in the world with access to a computer can read what one person (in still blacked out city of Washington, DC) mused about late one night, just to stay connected...

Wooooooooooo... what greater meaning would there be to those who had a tube and relay CPU. It is not such a far fetched thought as it first might seem.

[This message has been edited by AGAssarsson (edited September 23, 2003).]