Critical thinking is sourly lacking, and its really bad in the worse possible ways.

With so much misinformation, and lies being spread around social media, media in general and the Internet, it has become harder to know what to believe or who to trust. Specially when that misinformation resonates with core beliefs of people unwilling to do some extra research, or just look for more information to collaborate what they came by before making up their mind.

All of these becomes more insidious, when you add into the mix the fact that there are many that aren't capable to question what they come the information they come by. Many just take it on face value, which in some cases can lead to the wrong conclusions about the subject of the news they heard about.

Critical thinking is a skill that needs to be learned, and even easier to take for granted for those who learn to think in such a way. So much so, that it takes many by surprise that many people out there didn't learn to think critically. Which makes it hard to communicate with them, since some don't take kindly when someone not only refuses to take their ideas, but also questions them.

Sadly, the education we receive both at home and school doesn't always gives us the tools to think critically. Kids are thought to memorize information, and not to actually take it to be understood and be processed to come to their own conclusions. They aren't allowed to ask why do things work the way they do, jut to accept that things just work that way.

If we want a stronger society, one that can actually make the best use of democracy, all the people needs to be able to think critically. The root problem isn't that social media can be used for people to exchange ideas, rather that people aren't able to discern misinformation because they don't have the tools to recognize it.

Time has come to make sure that our education systems equips people with the tools that help them to think critically. It isn't just the way to build better a better society, but actually save our democracy.

Eoan Ermine 19.10 might be the one that brings me back to Ubuntu.

One of the things I look forward every October, is the release of a new Ubuntu comes along. Although I currently use Linux Mint, Ubuntu's 19.10 Eoan Ermine release is tempting me to make the jump back.

Ubuntu holds a special place for me, since it has the first Linux distro I used full time. Also, its the one of the OSes that I find that are better suited for the uses I give my personal computers. So, I always keep an eye on what's new with each release in order to see if there is enough there to make me want to make the jump back.

I've to admit that ever since the 19.04 Disco Dingo came out, the idea of coming back to Ubuntu has grown stronger. In some ways, is a sense of nostalgia that makes me want to return to the distro on which that started me on the use of a Linux distro. But there's the fact that how Ubuntu implements GNOME's on the desktop environment, makes a bit of a better fit for my daily use. It simply helps things flow when I'm using my computer, no matter what I'm doing.

I'm still looking into it, but it seems that it's just a matter of when I'm making the jump back. Even if it ends up being for a couple of months, the it feels like I just need to give Ubuntu the chance.

Technology is as good, as bad, as what we use it for.

It's somewhat interesting, or sad, how people tend to see technology either what will save or destroy humanity. It seems that for most of these people it's hard to understand that any technology just has the potential help us go either way.

At the end of the day, it all depends how we use technology which will determine if its impact on our lives will be positive or negative. All new technologies will change how we relate to the world around us, but its the use we give that will determine the benefits we can expect from them.

Most of the time, most will take the easy path of blaming any technology rather than accept that it was misused. While is true that some technology has been proven to do more harm than good, most of the time is the misuse of technology that brings harm. Even fear, in many shapes, has come into play for either not accepting it or for its misuse.

In a way it seems like people loves how technology makes their life easier, but they don't want to take responsibility for its misuse.

People are ready to call how any technology is being misused, and sometimes its ironic that they use that they are using the same technology. Its easy to forget the most things are a double edged sword. It can be use for our benefit, and also to harm us.

The time has come to take the responsibility the technologies we use for the better. Until then, we are exposed to the consequences of its misuse.

We are in a new brave world that no one truly saw coming.

One of the things that science fiction writers got wrong, was how computers would develop. Most of them thought that they would become ever bigger, and we would all interact with one via a terminal.

Yet, the opposite came to be. Computers became not only ever more powerful, but they also become smaller. And although with the advent of the Internet, it could be argued that in the essence each of our computers connected to it acts like a terminal, they didn't become just a terminal dependent on a central computer to operate.

Computers have become so small, that in our smartphones and tables we got truly portable computers that we can carry around with us all day long to do much more than many science fiction writers, scientist and engineers could have even imagined even a few decades ago.

Its both interesting, and a bit scary, how much data we don't only have access to with smartphones, but also how much data we generate while using them. In a way, we all have become content creators at some level. Yes, most of the time we consume content, but we also create some by modifying in some way the content we share with others.

Media has become truly interactive, allowing people to become active participants. So much so, that people expect to be able to participate in some way each time they come in contact with any content they come across. Media has truly been democratized, though I still see it the whole thing being in the process of maturing. While in some ways, some artist and content creators have figured out how to manage the whole thing, there is still plenty of room to actually improve and to make it work better for everyone involved.

Though we are in living in a world no one fully predicted, we are getting better at making the best out of it. One of the best things about it, is that it has truly made it easier for more people to actually have a hand in making of a better world. Now, we not only make sure that those who are only in stay in, but also give more people the chance to have a say on it.

I'm on Android because it works for me.

When I say that I prefer Android over iOS, has lead to some funny reactions from people that expect the usual fan boy arguments that have been thrown around when discussing why you prefer one over the other.

It seems that some people can't seem to understand that I do believe both are rather good OSes, and even that iOS does somethings better than Android. Yet, I've found that Android is a better fit for me, and its drawbacks aren't an issue for me. And for the things that iOS does better, don't really matter for me because I simple don't have an actual use for those features.

I simply found in Android an OS that just works for me, and it actually helps me set my smartphone just the way I want it to be. The only thing I'd like to have more options is on the cases front, but its something I don't really care about. I just prefer to be able to change the launcher, and the icon set.

My favorite, and go to, launcher is Evie Launcher. What I like most about Evie, is that it quite simple, minimalist, and it can be customized to suit your taste. It has extra points for having a dock option, which makes my home screen look clean while giving me access quick access to my most used apps. The rest of the apps that I use can be accessed with a flick, while those apps that I don't really use that much or I can't uninstall can be hidden.

Would I use an iPhone? Only if I've no other choice, but not because I think that its bad. It simply doesn't give me what I want, or need, on my smartphone. Apple has done great things with it, and has made things that have jumped to Android because they are useful things to have on a smartphone. But those things are not enough to make it an option for me.

At the end, I'm quite happy with Android.

New technologies always change our relationship with the world around us.

I find it both amusing, and frustrating, how some people seem to always be complaining how technology has changed things from what they used to know. It makes everything different, and how they wished all would go back to how things used to be.

What most people seem to miss, is that new technology changes the world around us. The printing press, the steam engine, radio, the car, all these technologies meant changes so big that they mark a before and an after. The thing is, that the people who where at the middle of the change can't conceive a world without the technologies that they used. They seem to forget there was a time when people had to make do without a telephone for example, or a steam engine that make certain tasks easier.

For those who experience the world before, during, and after certain technologies became common place are able to compere. Yet, many bemoan the evils of those new technologies while reaping the benefits of their use. Or sometimes, they fail to adapt to the changes that come with them making it hard to connect with those who actually came to use the new technologies with ease.

The main difference today, is that new technologies seem to keep coming our way faster than ever before in human history. And it has been this way for over a century now, making even hard to keep up with them and at the same time to gauge how those changes impact us. Now we have to learn how to keep our ability to adapt on for far longer longer, because learning how to use new technologies as they come is now vital to keep current.

I don't think that technology dehumanizes. It rather makes us question what it means to be human, and how we interact with the world. It brings what is already inside all of us, making it visible to more people. Technology is amoral, we are the ones who are moral. Humans are the ones who decide to use things for good or evil, not the other way around.

We should be asking ourselves how to teach the new generations how to think critically, so they can act in a way that'll bring the best out of them in order to benefit the most people as possible. Its not technology that is good, or evil, in itself. The answer lays on how we use it.

The world is not only becoming interconnected.

It seems that not many people realize that the world hasn't become just interconnected with the raise of the Internet, and truly global media. Trade has managed linked the economies of many countries so tightly together, that they need each other for their continued growth.

 

Borders are losing their current meaning each day with the flow of goods, ideas, and information. In many ways, borders are becoming just a geographic reference to place the point the origin, or where a product is consumed. As time goes by, more people are seeing themselves not only as a citizen from a certain country, but as part of something bigger.

While they jury is still out on what will all this ultimately mean to humanity at large, so far it seems that we will be able to make it work for the better since there are more people actually working to make it so. So much so, that trying to stop this global may prove to be impossible since the benefits of making it happen seem to out wight the pains of growing into a global community.

And to be honest, its on our best interest to make sure that the people take control of it in order to make it work in a way that benefits most of us. I don't see local identities being completely lost, since its important to know our root. Yet, the free flow of people around the world will become a given, just as the free flow of ideas have become a norm.

The most important thing for me, is that we need to have people being able to freely move around the whole world in order to actually make a better world possible. Only when people are able to come together freely, we can hope to build a something better.

Like or not, the world is a lot more interconnected that most realize or want.

With all the trade wars, and the resurgence of some nationalist movements, going, it seems that many don't seem to acknowledge how integrated the world has become. It has become almost impossible to find products that don't have some degree of components made in several countries, or being sourced to third party manufactures on other country.

Not only that, the advent of the Internet means that most people, and businesses, can make contact almost anyone else without much regard where they are geographically speaking. Not only that, we can access information and content form any other region with relative easy in both legal, and illegal, ways. When you combine this with smartphones, it means that those connections are much easier and stronger.

Borders are becoming only relevant to mark a geographic place, but irrelevant for people and information movements. With time, we are building a global village and more of a global identity, though I don't see countries totally disappear. I seeing their meaning changing to something else.

Global integration is a matter of time, what we should be doing is making it so it benefits as many people as possible. We should be building the framework that makes it happen, not trying to stop it.

As it goes, we should be bringing people together not tearing them apart. It the way to move forward.

There is no perfect app.

It's quite vexing to me that subset of users that go on to rant about how every change that is made to an app brakes it so badly, that makes that app unusable. To make it worse, those users seem to believe that they all talk for every other user and those who disagree don't know what they're talking about.

Many of these users don't give any change a chance before starting to rant against it. They are sure that the old way to was the best and only right way, and no change can do thing any better. It's true that change just for the sake of change is not a good thing, but that doesn't make change bad in itself. Most changes need to be tried before making a judgment call about them, mainly because they are just another way to do something.

Also, its important that you aren't talking for the whole user base when you talk for, or against, any change to an app you use. Many changes that makes things better for some, make it worse for others. Yet, most of the time for most users it just isn't all that big of a deal. Life goes on, and it needs to be understood that changes don't have the same effect on every user.

One thing that many users don't seem to be taking into account, either by choice or ignorance, is that the app developers have the complete picture of how users interact with the app and how that use fit into their business plan. And that is something individual users can have, they just have a piece of the picture that in itself just doesn't mean all that much.

This means that you just have to take all, and every change, the developers make to their app? No, you are free to move on to another app that better fits your need. So, make the move and don't ruin the experience for those who still enjoy the app. Most importantly, don't believe you are talk for everyone else or your way is the best way to do something.

There is no perfect app, as such app developers will always be looking for ways to make their apps better. This means that changes will be made for a variety of reasons, from adapting to new technologies to changing user tastes.

As such, enjoy the apps you are using for as long as they work for you.

With computers and smartphones its always function over form, not the other way around.

For me at least, is sad to see many people pick their computers more on for form rather than function. Even worse, when they expend way more than they should on Pro computers that they won't actually use to that system full potential.

While most of the time I see this happening on the Apple ecosystem, with people going for the MacBook Pro when a MacBook or MacBook Air would have been far better matches for their needs, I've seen people going for gaming systems like Alienware when a Asus ZenBook would have been far better for their use case. This ends of people feeling like they were ripped off, or with the feeling that the sales person lied to them.

There are two main reasons why people fall to these pitfalls. One is that they don't know much about computers, and they don't ask around enough because they simply are ashamed to let others know they don't know much about computers. Also, this can lead to people don't researching enough about their options, and come with a shortlist of computers that actually fit their needs.

This problem could also mean they can buy a computer that's under rated for their needs. Which means that they'll see a lot of systems clashes, or simply their computer will be slow to be usable.

The other pitfall is getting a certain computer as a status symbol, that ends up becoming a symbol of your computer illiteracy. All because you got a computer to impress a certain people, but in ends up broadcasting your ignorance to those people instead. Don't get me wrong, it's okay to get a computer as a status symbol, but at least get one that you can actually show the status you want to project while it fits the use you need it for.

The same could be said about the smartphone we carry around with us. Specially since it could be argued that our smartphone is also an extension of our personality, and how we relate to others. While form and function are both important, is time to put function over form.

Linux Mint should stay.

A couple of days ago while on YouTube, I came to couple of videos that made reference to an article at TechRepublic arguing that Linux Mint should go.

As a Linux Mint user, I agree with Joe Collins and Switch to Linux. All the issues on the TechRepublic's article are actually nonissue, either because those issues don't mean much to the end user or have been solved in a timely manner.

Linux Mint is the Linux distro that just works for me, and in a way that it doesn't gets in the way of getting things done. Most importantly, I don't have to constantly having to figuring out why a part of the system broke and having to fix it. And while I've become more proficient on doing things on my system under the hood, its not something I want to do regularly.

And let's face it, most the people want just that. They just want to focus on their regular job, and not have to figure out why their system stop working they way they want it to every so often. That's why many user have left Windows, because it got in their way by braking their workflow.

For me, Linux Mint bring that to the Linux community. Is one of those distros people can go to, when they want a OS that just lets them focus on their every day computing without worrying that an update will brake their computer.

One of the best things about Linux, is that if you don't like a distro for whatever reason you don't have to use it. Yet, that you don't like it, or it doesn't fits your need, it doesn't mean that it doesn't have an audience that find it useful.

At the end of the day, if we want more people to make the jump to Linux, and to open source software in general, we need to start to be more welcoming as a community to those new users. And that includes giving them the software they need, and find useful, to actually make the jump.