Post ACYbJwr8aGkmlx2yx6 by deejoe@mastodon.technology
(DIR) More posts by deejoe@mastodon.technology
(DIR) Post #ACYYKCfxT1CnyRFRho by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T11:53:39Z
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I knew manual transmission demand and production were in decline, but was a little shocked that Ferrari, McLaren, and Lamborghini had stopped using them:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JuyDN0qzRY
(DIR) Post #ACYYKDKN2lX1zm9ihE by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T12:41:39Z
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I'm feeling the onset of A Thread so, depending on your inclinations, y'all might want to either mute this thread or hold off jumping into the mentions for a little bit until the dust settles.
(DIR) Post #ACYYKDqd6pKtbpFTyi by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T12:45:16Z
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So I have two points to make which might seem to be the same point, but I see them as distinct and I'm going to try to draw them out.The first has to do with how we learn (or not) to understand and use technology in general. The other has to do with the convergence of two types of ubiquitous technology.
(DIR) Post #ACYYKEKlInRH7HLXwe by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T12:47:02Z
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For a long time, the difference between standard transmissions and manual (aka "stick shift" or "standard") transmissions served as a good metaphor, at least in my way of thinking, for our relationship with other technologies.
(DIR) Post #ACYbJrnlNO5F62QiUy by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T12:58:13Z
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You can break this out in a number of ways, but, in the grand tradition of keeping it short usually associated with this medium, they are a sort of "efficiency" aspect and what I'd almost call an "engagement" aspect but for the taint associated with that term in this medium, so I guess I'll call it "educational" (or "pedagogical" if you want to be fancy).
(DIR) Post #ACYbJsNZEGiut5BJJ2 by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:01:12Z
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For the longest time the choice between manual transmission and automatic transmissions were performance related: Automatic auto transmissions could be unresponsive, which impacts the direct experience as well as not using engine power and fuel most efficiently. So there was a direct experiential impact and a global impact. They were also more expensive to make and maintain.
(DIR) Post #ACYbJsvxAQEGbjGlu4 by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:06:02Z
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These factors are the ones that kept open the market for manual transmissions, mostly. Cheap, responsive, efficient. The downside, of course, was that they required more training, experience, and attention. There was, then, a trade-off to be made, but since the market dealt in both it was possible to choose either. Many households, over time, had both, whether simultaneously across a couple of vehicles at hand or sequentially.
(DIR) Post #ACYbJtXWuiHqUGqmTQ by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:08:29Z
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(At times, the only car available had an automatic transmission, at times we had several drivers and cars in the household some with standards, some with automatics. My first car was an automatic, the next 3 or 4 I drove when I was out on my own were standards. Then it was all automatics until I chose to add a standard in the last couple of years.)
(DIR) Post #ACYbJuAAb3CAQ6vdhY by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:12:02Z
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In either of these mixed cases, you get the other benefit of having a manual even if a lot of the driving was in an automatic: The experiential, educational benefit. The opportunity to compare and contrast the two ways of operating the power train of the vehicle. An appreciation for what an automatic does for you when you aren't driving stick.
(DIR) Post #ACYbJuiuVsz69rBNqq by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:15:31Z
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But most of all, even if a standard shift transmission isn't the one you drive all the time, having the opportunity to drive one helps develop an intuition as to what it feels like to be in any of a number of different states with regard to vehicle speed, acceleration, deceleration, engine speed, engine power output at given revolutions, the need for power due to load or incline or lack of overall momentum. You learn about the 'friction point' using the clutch.
(DIR) Post #ACYbJvGEVzdhpClzn6 by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:20:47Z
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This is where the metaphor comes in. Kahneman, writing about his & Tversky's work in "Thinking: Fast and Slow" talks about this. Or, for an easier going treatment, Michael Lewis in his presentation of their lives in "The Undoing Project". They aren't the only ones doing this work of course, so see those for more.There are others who have intuited this same idea, which is:There is a distinct difference between conscious, intellectual, attentive "book learning" and hand's on learning.
(DIR) Post #ACYbJvl4fKJFMrCcrY by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:23:22Z
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In the video at the top of this thread they have sequences of a Mustang enthusiast trying to convey the attraction of driving a standard. To be honest, I can see how it might come across as only so much "woo".
(DIR) Post #ACYbJwHgi4Oh00SfhI by murph@fosstodon.org
2021-10-20T13:26:16Z
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@deejoe Not a great communicator, that one.
(DIR) Post #ACYbJwr8aGkmlx2yx6 by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:24:21Z
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In other, daily aspects of my life there is one experience I find well demonstrates the difference though:I literally cannot tell you with any reliable precision some of the passwords I use *daily*. My fingers know them, my articulate conscious self only has a vague notion. Is that letter lower case or upper? fiik. I *have* to type it to get it right.
(DIR) Post #ACYbXOIDsyNDdB7sJs by deejoe@mastodon.technology
2021-10-20T13:28:44Z
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@murph he's trying to eff something that is, to a very real extend, ineffable. You literally have to have the experience to know what he means.We have, so we do. I've got a lot of sympathy for the guy, seeing as I do All. The. Freaking. Time. people dissing other very tactile, direct technology experiences.
(DIR) Post #ACYbq5LqXAvgO2jdNQ by vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de
2021-10-20T13:32:07Z
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@murph @deejoe also for those outside America, is its not just the market/personal choice which allows drivers to select which transmission they choose. Many countries have legislation that if you take your road test in an automatic, a marker is added to your driving licence and you can only drive automatics unless you take another road test. Because of this (and high fuel costs) lots of people elsewhere in the World drive manuals due to the "sunk costs" factor..
(DIR) Post #ACYbztnWLSKTRwMJvM by murph@fosstodon.org
2021-10-20T13:33:54Z
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@deejoe What you say is very true.