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PUBLISHER’S LETTER
www.siliconchip.com.au
Publisher & Editor-in-Chief
Leo Simpson, B.Bus., FAICD
Production Manager
Greg Swain, B.Sc.(Hons.)
Technical Staff
John Clarke, B.E.(Elec.)
Peter Smith
Ross Tester
Jim Rowe, B.A., B.Sc, VK2ZLO
Reader Services
Ann Jenkinson
Advertising Enquiries
Leo Simpson
Phone (02) 9979 5644
Fax (02) 9979 6503
Regular Contributors
Brendan Akhurst
Rodney Champness, VK3UG
Julian Edgar, Dip.T.(Sec.), B.Ed
Mike Sheriff, B.Sc, VK2YFK
Stan Swan
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Technical people should
be held in high regard
Do your friends and work-mates think of you as
a “techie”? As some sort of nerdy person or even
a “geek” who knows about technical stuff but is
otherwise a retiring sort of person, confined to the
“back room”? If so, then that is a pretty common
situation and one that I think is rather sad.
I hate the word “techie” and “geek”, for that
matter. To my mind, these are terms of deprecation, often used by IT and marketing people in
particular, to describe someone who understands
stuff that they don’t. If you think of yourself as a “techie” then consider the
following.
In reality, you are a “technocrat” – part of a shining elite, a person who has
taken the time and trouble to inform himself (or herself) about technology
in a world where the vast majority of people are blissfully ignorant. Sadly,
not only are the majority of people ignorant about technology but they are
too lazy to do anything about or consider it “beneath them” as they occupy
themselves with astrology, aromatherapy, water divining, crystal therapy,
the latest fashion fad or other such trivialities.
In effect, any person who makes the effort to be fully informed about the
technology which surrounds and affects every part of our lives is more in
control. For example, if you don’t know that high intensity halogen or gas
discharge lamps present an ultraviolet radiation hazard, how can you do
anything about it? If you don’t understand anything about car electronics,
how can you make choices about the best sort of car to buy, or know the
best way to drive it?
Similarly, if you don’t know anything about TV, DVDs and home theatre
systems, how can you possibly make the best decision when the time comes
to buy such things?
Or say you hear on the news that mobile phone towers are dangerous, do
you panic when one is about to be installed a kilometre away (the normal
public reaction) or are you the one to reassure others? And as someone who
is better informed, you can point out that the real danger is probably from
the mobile itself, rather than the distant transmitting tower.
It should be clear then that people who are technically well-informed,
whether as part of their job or interest, whether they read magazines such as
SILICON CHIP and others, are not just “techies”; they really are a “clever elite”,
the technocrats. Give yourself a pat on the back. Increase your self esteem.
In fact, as technical people we need to make an effort to correct the tendency of the general public to undervalue people with technical skills. Of
course, this does not just apply to people skilled in electronics; it applies
to skilled people generally.
And this is not to say that we need to go around with “tickets on ourselves”,
thinking that we are superior to other people. But it is a far cry from being
regarded as a lowly “techie”, isn’t it?
Leo Simpson
ISSN 1030-2662
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