"Perilous to us all are the devices of an art deeper than we possess ourselves."
Gandalf, The Two Towers
I was postulating to myself earlier and wondering similar issues.
Like, if the total stations we use have calibrated barometers and temperature sensors.
If so, can we see some report of what they are sensing?
How do we know they are applying the proper corrections to our measurements?
Is there a report we can get of the corrections?
I'm not so sure I can get one if I needed one - now that I think of it.
I have a Trimble 5605 with a TSC2. Any ideas on how to get that info?
TIA.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguisable from magic." -A.C. Clarke
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo." - James Klass
Neil Postman: Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change
First, that we always pay a price for technology; the greater the technology, the greater the price
Second, that there are always winners and losers, and that the winners always try to persuade the losers that they are really winners
Third, that there is embedded in every great technology an epistemological, political or social prejudice. Sometimes that bias is greatly to our advantage. Sometimes it is not. The printing press annihilated the oral tradition; telegraphy annihilated space; television has humiliated the word; the computer, perhaps, will degrade community life. And so on.
Fourth, technological change is not additive; it is ecological, which means, it changes everything and is, therefore, too important to be left entirely in the hands of Bill Gates.
And fifth, technology tends to become mythic; that is, perceived as part of the natural order of things, and therefore tends to control more of our lives than is good for us. .... When a technology become mythic, it is always dangerous because it is then accepted as it is, and is therefore not easily susceptible to modification or control.
How do you know it's even reading the wave lengths to distances right? You might need to break out a steel tape and check the distances.....;-)
Oh great now I've got to worry 'bout that too.... :-O 😛
As long as caution does not lead to paralysis...
> Kafka, Crichton, and Postman are at the first tee waiting to make up a foursome...
Plenty of good players available (I'd caddy for them any day)
Jacques Ellul
Lewis Mumford
Albert Borgmann
Wendell Berry
Andrew Feenberg
Ivan Illich
Langdon Winner
Although, to be honest, in comparison these guys are professionals on the tour and Crichton can't break 100 on the local muni 😉
Heck, I was never quite sure how my T2 worked. I've been behind ever since.;-)