Why automatic doors are causing the downfall of western civ.

I don't really under stand the argument, but here's a new one: Ban automatic doors, then retailers will start hiring a guy to open the door again like back in the old days... Employment issues.. solved!

Most fun are the elevators, then you press the door close button before people are inside. But aside from a young age I have had problems with automatic doors, some would not open until I waved my hand strangely enough.

Please tell me this is a spoof thread.

Please.

Progress always leads to the situation where the guy behind you gets it "better" and, from your perspective, it makes him a less likeable man. A man that can't carry his own weight and also go out of his way to be courteous to others is not deserving of the wonders of technology.

Ray Bradbury shares this feeling. One of the first times he was exposed to it was in the 1950's. He was out for a walk and passed a lady who had a radio up to her ear. He smiled at her as she passed by. She didn't notice him. Her eyes were glazed over and her mind focused on another place. This moment would last inside him and would seemingly repeat for the remainder of his life. He would write about it and bring it up in his talks. In fact, if you read Fahrenheit 451, you'll see how the citizens of the city are glued to their wall screens. How books are so easily burned and people so easily ignored. There're many other books where Bradbury touches on this.

He talks about it here:

In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap opera cries, sleep walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction.

* Quoted by Kingsley Amis in New Maps of Hell: A Survey of Science Fiction (1960)

Ray Bradbury was against the heavy use of computers. He disliked them for writing. He boasted that he could write a more impressive novel on a typewriter than many writers on a computer. I don't recall what he said exactly, but I think he was relating to the automatic functions. Things like automatic spell checking or thesaurus lookups. He did the work himself. He said that there was a well spring of creation in his mind. No computer was needed. He didn't like the idea of the internet.

I lived in new york city my whole life and the only place I've encountered automatic doors is supermarkets, hospitals, and department stores that people often purchase large or many items. In those places it makes sense to have automatic doors so cutomers/employees won't have to struggle with the door everytime they leave or enter. Maybe its different in other places?

If your against automatic doors completely, would you rather a door man instead?

reply to post by Jay Electronica

I think there's some logic to it. It might reduce the spread of pandemics of people are having to touch the same things all the time. Mass transit is probably the worst offender in this regard.

Viruses spread via touch and air. Believe it or not, but this actually is a serious matter. There's much thought and money put into it to reduce the chances of rapid spread of communicable pathogens.

But other than that, I don't mind opening. Most doors I open are manual. The only time I encounter automatic doors are in the big box stores and I only visit them once a month about.

Toilet seats are a whole other matter. Almost every single one that I've used had pee on it. So of course I've had to wipe almost every time. It makes me self conscious about it.

Minorly, I think som warts can be spread via toilet seats. Fear butt warts! I think the vast majority of them are members of the HPV (herpes) virus family. I think it's mostly safe. However, I think that our modern world leaves a lot to be desired in these cases.

See here:
en.wikipedia.org - Molluscum contagiosum...

I think a lot of it is to do with People with Pushchairs and Buggies and also Disabled people and Wheelchairs.

Unless this is some really hilarious, satirical post (it probably is) then I don't get this one at all?

reply to post by Chamberf=6


I'm not sure. ATS looks more and more like a forum for technology-fearing Luddites, not conspiracy theorists. Really gets on my nerves.

OP.. While i am not 100% sure that automatic doors single handedly
caused the downfall of society, I have to give you props. That was one well
written observation.

Normaly i skip by threads like these, they usually are full of rambelings from someone
who missed their morning med's, but yours was inspiring.

You have a talent, you should look into putting it to work for you.


Bears in everyday life huh? i've had a few close encounters with some myself,
i'm sure it would lite a fire under some butt's but it would all depend on the bear's mood
for the day as to the outcome.

Keep up the great work.