Hypothetical Aspies Central Convention

[Nitro]

Facebook? you have to be kidding me right?

Wiki...useful if you want the Cliff's Notes version to find out if something deserves real research
Ever hear of a .gov .org or .edu site? Maybe not...

The internet is not my whole life,I am disabled now and just very connected over the course of a day. If you understood a little about a left frontal lobe traumatic brain injury,you might understand that my internet connection is a valuable support tool that I utilize in my bag of tricks to maintain things that I need reminded of during my day.Fact of the matter is that my methods were adopted by my brain injury recovery facility as a model for their own work after they saw the results it netted me.I am also featured on their website as an incredible success story.Five years ago,I had to teach myself how to read again.About a year after I got hurt and started to read again,the 'net was my savior and still is. Can't argue with results.
Maybe I should cancel my internet and smartphone plan tomorrow since it is silly,useless and consumes a bit too much of my time.

40 year old encyclopedias have 40 year old information,some of it dead true,other parts not so up to date. History is rewritten daily as new discoveries are made.The only way a book is updated is when it is reprinted,bought and paid for and the old one gets tossed in the trash.

I guess any who have social phobias would not be invited to the shindig...not exactly friendly in my honest opinion,kinda harsh even...those people might benefit from using communication technology.Na...not a chance if it is banned,but who cares,they won't mind if we kick them to the curb during the party. Is ableism a term that applies to that mentality?

I get it,we don't all share the same interests. That makes each of us unique and nothing more

 

[clg114]

The reason I wrote what I did above was to make the point that many of us - quite a large percentage, actually - don't have much interest in the things that many associate with us (i.e. computers, and technology in general). I use the internet only because there are certain things I cannot do without it (ex. check my emails, visit AspiesCentral), but apart from that I have to confess to being in the 1980's when it comes to such things. It's not that I "don't like technology", it's just that I see it for what it truly is: a means to an end, not an end in itself. We use technology to help us to accomplish whatever it is that we wish to achieve, but we must never allow it to become such an overwhelming aspect of our lives that we can't even go for a few hours without checking our "Facebook" page (I don't belong to Facebook, by the way, because I knew from the very start that I would never actually need it).

Certain people, for better or worse (usually worse), associate certain things with being "on the spectrum", and being obsessed with science and technology is one of those things, but speaking for myself I usually find such things rather boring. I like classical physics, that's true, but I can't stand the hyperbole and bad reporting of discoveries made in A.I., cosmology and Q.M., and actually like other things more (like Byzantine history).

As for your observation that "information and technology often go hand in hand" - the information that is found in archaic encyclopaedias from 40 years ago (in book form, of course) is often more useful and reliable than anything one can find on the internet. 'Wikipedia', although useful when you've got nothing else, is not known for being scholarly. Anyone can edit the entries, and most of what is found on the internet is actually opinion and gossip, not truth. One needs to be highly discerning when it comes to what one can find on it, but most people aren't, and that is why there are so many kooky conspiracy theorists around these days.

I agree, one needs to be highly discerning when it comes to what one can find on the internet. I also agree that most people are not. However the majority of those here are not "most people" and are capable filtering through the information in a logical manner. I am glad to be rid of all those sets of encyclopedias. They were bulky, expensive and had to be replaced every few years to stay current. Now I have information on anything at my fingertips. Sure, half of it is BS, but it is not hard to tell the difference.

 

[Bellatrix]

Facebook? you have to be kidding me right?

Nitro, I really don't understand your reaction here. You seem in that particular post of yours to be very emotional, but there was nothing I wrote in the post you responded to that was in any way controversial.

 

[Flinty]

Back after a week away...

The thing about online groups getting together is that the meetings generally do happen one-at-a-time.

I love how North Alabama is central to some. I counter with Brainerd. The noise of the dragsters will make it pointless for us to talk. (Seriously, I have no real suggestion. Yet. Real central is Rugby, North Dakota. Hm. International Peace Garden is nearish to that. We can discuss getting a better nickname for North Dakota.)

I can deal with most of North America. Europe is a long-but-not-impossible-shot.

So, loosely, I'm in.

 

[Nitro]

Nitro, I really don't understand your reaction here. You seem in that particular post of yours to be very emotional, but there was nothing I wrote in the post you responded to that was in any way controversial.

I was only pointing out that you wish your meeting to be exclusive and not favorable for ALL on the autism spectrum.
You only want what is comfortable for YOU
The controversy I see is you not liking to be treated exclusively by some people and wanting to do exactly the same to others