RE: How GPS Weakens Memory—and What We Can Do about It - Scientific American
I often wonder how those explorers, such as Christopher Columbus, Captain James Cook or Marco Polo managed to find their way around the world through uncharted waters, using nothing more than a sextant, compass, a chip log to determine latitude and longitude. How early cartographers produced such accurate charts that some were used into the early 20th Century? They accomplished it without the aid of GPS or satellite navigation. They did it by using nothing but intelligence, mathematical skills, experience, learning by doing, and an iron-bound courage and will.
However, I am not opposing GPS. If you don’t know a route, use a GPS. If you travel that route constantly you’ll eventually remember the route yourself, which means you will be less depended on GPS. For routes not traveled frequently, a GPS will still expose you to new learning opportunities. Such as back roads, state routes, highways, interstates, or even turnpikes, as well as where they can take you. A GPS is no different from an atlas, a GPS simply automates the work for you.
You are right, the Boat Captains in ancient times were guided by the compass but at night they let themselves be carried away by the stars, we human beings are special we learned to survive the high risk that the mere fact of being alive entails.
Every day technology pushes us to be more lazy since we can have all the comfort at our fingertips, technology makes our life easier.
Thank you for responding! I agree that the early navigators were pretty amazing. I have often wondered how I would have fared on such a voyage. Not well, I think.
The things that people can accomplish with modern technology, like GPS, are also pretty amazing, though.