National Park Service Says Tech Is Enabling Stupidity

theodp writes "The National Park Service is finding technology to be a double-edged sword. While new technologies can and do save lives, the NPS is also finding that unseasoned hikers and campers are now boldly going where they never would have gone before, counting on cellphones, GPS, and SPOT devices to bail them out if they get into trouble. Last fall, a group of hikers in the Grand Canyon called in rescue helicopters three times by pressing the emergency button on their satellite location device. When rangers arrived the second time, the hikers complained that their water supply tasted salty. 'Because of having that electronic device, people have an expectation that they can do something stupid and be rescued,' said a spokeswoman for Grand Teton National Park. 'Every once in a while we get a call from someone who has gone to the top of a peak, the weather has turned and they are confused about how to get down and they want someone to personally escort them. The answer is that you are up there for the night.'"

Comments

Re:Charge for support

[19thNervousBreakdown]

I don't give empathy to faceless people posting under a pseudonym on the internet. Hey, why don't you give me some empathy? I was sexually abused by ever male figure I've ever had in my life, and psychologically by every woman. I had a wife, and three kids, they were tortured to death in front of me while I watched helpless.

Is any of that true? Maybe I'm the original poster, just stirring shit up for his own enjoyment. Who knows! Oh wait, I know who, my actual friends and family (who are all dead :( ). I'm more than willing to debate justice or morals or any number of abstract subjects on the internet, but I cannot empathize with some random account on some random forum.

Even if I could, what does my sensitivity mean? Absolutely nothing. Maybe if my karma takes a big enough hit I'll farm the other side of the conversation and play sympathetic. Should he be touched by my "awww (and then something mind-numbingly stupid that gets modded up as if I thought of something new)" that I only put there to get the +5? That's just ridiculous. Everybody's a sociopath on the internet, and everyone who isn't is dirt under their wheels.