Where have those beautiful times gone when I had unlimited Internet access on my Blackberry and didn’t have to look for WiFi hot spots all the time? Shouldn’t progress entail things getting better instead of worse? How come we have agreed to go back to the prehistoric times when our Internet usage was controlled by the number of bytes we were accessing?

How are things on other continents in this respect? Do you still get unlimited data plans on your phones?

12 responses to “Where Is Progress?”

  1. Steve Avatar

    We never did get unlimited access, except for people with the most expensive contracts.

    Like

    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar

      My phone company stopped offering unlimited access for any sort of contract at all. 😦 😦

      Like

  2. Stille (@aperfectbalance) Avatar

    That sucks. I can’t find a company with unlimited access in here either, but someone I know who spent a few months in France says unlimited access is available there.

    Like

  3. el Avatar
    el

    Have you mentioned that you like maps or was it graphs? Anyway, in case you like:

    Mapping Stereotypes
    Atlas of Prejudice by Yanko Tsvetkov
    http://alphadesigner.com/mapping-stereotypes/

    It has:
    The World According to USA, gay men, Russia and (at the page’s bottom) Israel

    Like

  4. ladyleahjane Avatar

    Alas, no unlimited here in Canada. One of the things I sorely missed about the US is the phone plans, but I guess now the countries are equally matched in terribleness.

    Like

  5. el Avatar
    el

    Now read this:

    Adding some kind of ritual to eating food appears to increase enjoyment and awareness of flavor, according to new studies reported in the New York Times:

    The researchers found that even simple rituals, which they defined as “a series of behaviors that are seemingly irrelevant to the act that follows,” like scraping wooden chopsticks together or tapping a soda can before pulling the tab, raised participants’ interest in what they subsequently ate or drank. And rituals appeared capable of enhancing the enjoyment not just of treats like chocolate or lemonade but even baby carrots.
    http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/missconduct/2013/08/food_rituals_im.html

    Religious people pray before eating, and it gave idea for a new possible blog post: the hidden (possible) utility of religious rituals. Not beliefs themselves, but the outward behavior of believers. What do people get from praying, going to church (except community), visiting Mecca, etc? May be, you have some not obvious insights.

    And, a connected but also possibly independent question: From you using Freud’s terms before, reading and being in analysis seems being able to make one understand people’s motivations better. Have you got any original insights about people, religion, etc?

    Like

  6. Benoni Avatar
    Benoni

    What’s this “unlimited internet access” everyone’s talking about? Do you all mean 3G?

    Like

  7. David Gendron Avatar

    Unlike Europe and Japan, Internet and phone markets are cartels in North America.

    Like

    1. David Gendron Avatar

      So, it’s lack of alternatives, not progress, that explains this problem.

      Like

  8. David Gendron Avatar

    I’m against progress, I support innovation.

    Like

  9. Lear Avatar

    How much bandwidth do you actually need? How much do you get? (If, so how often :-))

    Myself, I’m more concerned with speed and no drops. 4G fits nicely there!

    Like

Leave a comment