Cell/smart phones.... luxuries?  Needs?

For stuff that is general.

Cell/smart phones.... luxuries?  Needs?

Luxury.
7
70%
Need.
3
30%
 
Total votes: 10

Alhazad
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Post by Alhazad »

Chernobyl.
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Post by GORDON »

Alhazad wrote:Chernobyl.
I submit you'd get rained on, frozen, insected, wolfed, and rotted.

If you are inside the casket then just rotted.
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Alhazad
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Post by Alhazad »

Acid spring.

Dead sea.
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Post by GORDON »

Alhazad wrote:Acid spring.

Dead sea.
Acid burned and dehydrated, respectively.

I can't remember what the actual acid ph level is, though.... I've watched enough Westerns to know alkaline springs'll kill you, though.

So yeah, my point is that I don't think there's a climate on Earth that is conducive to long life, without shelter.
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Alhazad
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Post by Alhazad »

Open-air gun store.
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Post by TPRJones »

The fact that we are here as a species when once upon a time we couldn't build shelter is proof that there are climates where shelter isn't absolutely necessary to survival.

Comfort, yes. But not survival.
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Post by GORDON »

We also had fur.
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Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

TPRJones wrote:The fact that we are here as a species when once upon a time we couldn't build shelter is proof that there are climates where shelter isn't absolutely necessary to survival.

Comfort, yes. But not survival.
Build? Fuck build. We had caves.
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Alhazad
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Post by Alhazad »

GORDON wrote:We also had fur.

We still do, but I think your timeline is a bit confused. Proto-humans are plausibly believed to have lost body hair before radiating out of Africa, 1.2 million years ago. The earliest discovered, identifiable hearths are about 800,000 years old.
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Post by GORDON »

Maynard Keened knows the difference between wants and needs without having to have it explained to him:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music....?page=2

"The Remedy" really is a borderline-extinction-level event where we're worrying about food, clothing and shelter rather than worrying about whether or not you should use the word "retard" [laughs]. We're so far away from the reality of what it means to survive, and buying into the polarized crap that goes on in the political arena, and also caught up in what you think you deserve. "I deserve free shipping!" You know? It's just so disconnected with real life, and what it takes to survive. And maybe because I grew up on a farm, and maybe because I've done that work and maybe because I live in Arizona, where everything will kill you if you're not aware... maybe I just have a different perspective than most people.
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Stranger
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Post by Stranger »

Gotta love Maynard!

Bottom line is the phone is a luxury. I don't care if you "need it for work", people did your job before cell phones existed and got along just fine.
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Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

...people did your job before cell phones existed and got along just fine.

Bullshit. Some of those jobs didn't exist before back in the day. Did a frontier doctor in 1830s Appalachia need a cell phone or a car? No. But he would've been a lot more effective if he had them. We did surgery without anesthesia, too. Is it possible to survive without? Sure, it's just less pleasant and likely.
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Stranger
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Post by Stranger »

Malcolm wrote:
...people did your job before cell phones existed and got along just fine.

Bullshit. Some of those jobs didn't exist before back in the day. Did a frontier doctor in 1830s Appalachia need a cell phone or a car? No. But he would've been a lot more effective if he had them. We did surgery without anesthesia, too. Is it possible to survive without? Sure, it's just less pleasant and likely.

Totally irrelevant argument there..

Don't need it, just a luxury.




Edited By Stranger on 1442258175
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Malcolm
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Post by Malcolm »

Stranger wrote:
Malcolm wrote:
...people did your job before cell phones existed and got along just fine.
Bullshit. Some of those jobs didn't exist before back in the day. Did a frontier doctor in 1830s Appalachia need a cell phone or a car? No. But he would've been a lot more effective if he had them. We did surgery without anesthesia, too. Is it possible to survive without? Sure, it's just less pleasant and likely.
Totally irrelevant argument there..

Don't need it, just a luxury.
No, entirely relevant. If your job requires ready and instantaneous communication, then you need a means to do so. Until telepathy comes along, smart phone wins.
Diogenes of Sinope: "It is not that I am mad, it is only that my head is different from yours."
Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC, SSC: "Better dead than smeg."
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Post by TPRJones »

Stranger, would you at least acknowledge that someone with the job of computer programmer "needs" a computer in order to do their job? Or is that also a luxury?



Edited By TPRJones on 1442262331
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Stranger
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Post by Stranger »

TPRJones wrote:Stranger, would you at least acknowledge that someone with the job of computer program "needs" a computer in order to do their job? Or is that also a luxury?

I would, but we are talking about a cell phone aren't we?

Just my opinion, you're free to have yours also. To me, phone is luxury.




Edited By Stranger on 1442262456
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Post by TPRJones »

Yes, we are, but I'm trying to establish a definition of "need" beyond just an arbitrary list of food, shelter, and clothing. Since an actual concrete definition hasn't been forthcoming, trying to feel one out by selected examples seemed the way to go.

Would you agree that someone working as a racecar driver "need" some sort of automotive?
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Post by Malcolm »

A concrete definition of need? Insane. You might as well ask for a concrete definition of art. Fuck, you don't even need to exist, to be strict, so fuck oxygen. The Unabomber didn't need more than 100' or so square to live. If you imposed that base minimum on certain people, they would either: (i) kill themselves or (ii) dedicate their existence to finding a bigger living area. Some monks don't need more than noodles and water to live. For about four years of life, all you "need" to eat is ramen. A thousand years ago, all most people needed to worry about was pleasing their respective god(s), if you believe the contemporary sources. Nowadays, there's a "need" to fight climate change.



Edited By Malcolm on 1442264586
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Post by TheCatt »

TPRJones wrote:Yes, we are, but I'm trying to establish a definition of "need" beyond just an arbitrary list of food, shelter, and clothing. Since an actual concrete definition hasn't been forthcoming, trying to feel one out by selected examples seemed the way to go.

Would you agree that someone working as a racecar driver "need" some sort of automotive?
Shelter and clothing are not a need.
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Post by TheCatt »

No, the concrete definition is what you need to survive: food, water, air, sleep, and warmth. You need nothing else.
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