Prove that you are not a robot

Ha. Welcome to the 21st century. Finally someone told me to prove that I am not a robot.
What else do I have to say.

Goschpoidlistan

Austria is Goschpoidlistan, the land of the Goschpoidls. A Goschpoidl is usually a male human being whose job it is to irritate you completely.

My recent Goschpoidl encounters happened on the train between Vienna and Linz and on a mountain summit in Upper Austria.

The train-Goschpoidl seems to be a social worker, a really unusual profession for a Goschpoidl. However, his task is to involve you in a conversation by making statements about your computer. After this he will make sexist or other doubtful comments and drink his beer all along. I adore him, because he looks so harmless and humble: But beware of the Goschpoidl: He is a full-bred xenophobe and sexist.

The other Goschpoidl roams the mountains of Upper Austria and Steiermark. He tries to bemoan the weather if he can and then sit on your lap for a rest.

I wonder what the Bauernbergpark Man would have to say to the matter of Goschpoidls.

Another poem (German)

Schon lange nicht mehr

Ich habe schon lange nicht mehr

Die weißen Rosen gesehen

Die rund um die Kirche wachsen

Habe schon ewig nicht mehr

Deine Stimme gehört

Wie du mich in den Schlaf flüsterst

Schon lange nicht mehr

Habe ich das Salz des Meeres

In meiner Nase gefühlt

Lange nicht mehr

Den Schnee auf meinen Händen

Schmelzen gespürt

Nicht mehr

Denke ich an jene Tage zurück

An denen die Sonne lachte

Mehr

von alldem kann ich mir gern wünschen

Doch was kommt ist ungewiss

Collingridge Dilemma

The Collingridge dilemma is about unpredictability. It is about the fact that you cannot predict the future. This sounds rather pathetic for such a nice name. I mean, isn’t it obvious?

However, it is about unpredictability in the very narrow context of technology assessment or better the social control of technology. Nevertheless, we struggle hard to avoid future analogues of the atomic bomb.

Instead of sitting still, doing nothing but sitting, we carry on to do research to become faster than our problems, our destiny, faster than light: and this in the face of the Collingridge dilemma.

An old Austrian song about the new wave of motorcycling in the 1950ies states: “I don’t know where I am going to, but I’ll be the first one there.” That is the power of technoscientific innovation. And the scientists themselves are the best motorcyclists by adding: “We are just curious”.

In the Collingridge dilemma of everyday life we have our experiences and base our assumptions on them. Maybe that is the reason why we survive. The problem is that no two moments in time are the same, and so are the places.

We keep on struggling against this constant change and so we suffer.

Back to technology assessment: After two days at a TA conference in Vienna I am sure that we need some time to catch up with what already exists, instead of pushing the frontier further. But maybe we can never achieve this.

In a world without technology, the Collingridge dilemma is gone. But will we still be there?