KISS me, you old fool

There comes a point in an old guy's life when he begins to wonder if all this new technology is worth learning. My lovely bride is the master of the remote (as well as of the intimate, but that's another story). Whenever I turn on the television set, I get as far as pushing the button for sound, and hitting the power button that turns on the TV. After that, all bets are off.

If I hold my mouth right, I can get the weather report on the local Cincinnati channel. If not, the DVR will report that both channels are in use, and to be able to shift channels I'd have to cancel one of the recordings currently in progress. Do you think I'd have the nerve to even consider such a possibility? If you do, you don't know me very well.

It's not that I care, really, because J and I share a lot of the same interests in programs that she records. These include The Daily Show, apparently the only reliable source of media-based news reporting in the USA at the moment, and Deadliest Catch, the story of the rigors that crab fishermen endure in the Bering Sea for the sake of their share of a million dollars or less a season. We root for the crabs.

Video games are becoming so sophisticated that the next phase will be the surround helmet, which will convince the player that s/he has stepped into a real, not virtual, world. Beyond that is 3D computer and movie screens that require no special glasses to view.

Cars that drive themselves, kitchen robots that take care of meal preparation, cranial implants that will replace the functionality of diminishing senses, all of these and more are well on the way to mass production.

If these can all be operated by pushing one simple button, then I say, "Let them come and take over". But so far, it has been my life's experience that more sophistication entails more difficulty. Consider the barbecue, and how it has morphed from a grill over a pan of briquets to an outdoor appliance, complete with timers, rotisseries, warming ovens, side burners and self-cleaning ovens. Just putting one together, never mind learning how to use all its features is a challenge suitable for a younger mind.

At some point many of us feel a growing discontent with the complexity of our daily lives. It isn't necessarily a sign of senility to feel that it's getting more and more difficult to find simplicity and contentment, even though automation is moving the mundane to the periphery of our existence. First, we voted with a shout of assent. Then we began requiring a show of hands. Next came the paper ballot. Then the voting machine. And now the computerized voting station. With what result? More certainty? More fairness? More accuracy?

There's a lot to be said for the KISS principle, "Keep It Simple, Stupid". When the things that make your life easier make it more complex, then something just isn't adding up.