Not only are manual typewriters better at fighting the digital and AI technologies, they consume no electricity. Data centers as bitcoin consume so much power that big greedy corporations are no purchasing decommissioned power plants and restoring them, especially old nuclear facilities.
I'm still using typewriters over 125 years old that work great (with JJ Short recovered platens). All this new tech stuff will not be here more than a few decades, if that.
Excellent points. In these ways, AI is very inefficient. According to a New York Times story, OpenAI recently "spent nearly $1.5 million in electricity and computing costs" to solve some shape puzzles that are intuitive for humans.
You're using 19th-century typewriters? I'm impressed. I don't normally type on machines made before 1930. I guess I like the "modern" stuff!
Reading One Typed Page typewriter blog on my iPad, I’ve noticed MOST typefaces are automatically digitized (implying they are being harvested in some gargantuan database) if you highlight portions of the image, but other type faces, like italics, script or type from dirty, misaligned or poor ribbons are not. Maybe the OCR software will get better, but for now it seems poor or nonstandard quality type is a bit more secure. — jvc
What an excellent piece, thank you for writing and sharing it. And I just cannot believe it's actually ten years since The Typewriter Revolution came out! Tempus fugit. Martha/Typetheclouds
Not only are manual typewriters better at fighting the digital and AI technologies, they consume no electricity. Data centers as bitcoin consume so much power that big greedy corporations are no purchasing decommissioned power plants and restoring them, especially old nuclear facilities.
ReplyDeleteI'm still using typewriters over 125 years old that work great (with JJ Short recovered platens).
All this new tech stuff will not be here more than a few decades, if that.
Excellent points. In these ways, AI is very inefficient. According to a New York Times story, OpenAI recently "spent nearly $1.5 million in electricity and computing costs" to solve some shape puzzles that are intuitive for humans.
DeleteYou're using 19th-century typewriters? I'm impressed. I don't normally type on machines made before 1930. I guess I like the "modern" stuff!
Please check the authenticity of the photo. It's a .gov1. The site is a parody. The bottom of the about 'us' page says it is.
ReplyDeleteOops! You are right. I'm removing the photo.
Deleteheh, yes. It is especially tricky to know what is real, even when you try very hard. (:
ReplyDeleteReading One Typed Page typewriter blog on my iPad, I’ve noticed MOST typefaces are automatically digitized (implying they are being harvested in some gargantuan database) if you highlight portions of the image, but other type faces, like italics, script or type from dirty, misaligned or poor ribbons are not. Maybe the OCR software will get better, but for now it seems poor or nonstandard quality type is a bit more secure. — jvc
ReplyDeleteInteresting. And handwriting, I think, is still quite challenging for OCR.
DeleteWhat an excellent piece, thank you for writing and sharing it. And I just cannot believe it's actually ten years since The Typewriter Revolution came out! Tempus fugit. Martha/Typetheclouds
ReplyDeleteThanks, Martha!
Delete