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I would agree depending on what is included in that skill. Sadly, some games include high level programing and hacking even at level 1. So just because someone was born with and raised with computers would not mean they can hack them or program with them.
However, you do raise a good point, there are skills that could be argued a normal person depending on where they were raised, could have before the 18 year old first term.
Well, for using yes. But for anything else (programming, repairing, actually understanding how they work) I don't think I'd go with the Classic definition for Computers. Once things become everyday tools, most people don't care how they work. Cars when first introduced people who got them could probably do a lot of the maintenance because they were new and new stuff is interesting. Same for computers: when the PC came out, people were really interested in them, most could build the computers and add cards and drives. But after a generation or two, it becomes just a tool and in its own way and becomes background stuff.
I started programming in the 80s and I understood how the computer worked (a broad CS degree that taught more than the language/framework of the day helped). And when the web came out, it was full of interesting sites as people explored the new technology. You used to be able to right-click a page to get the source code and understand it. Now of course, web pages do a lot more but at a considerable cost in complexity. And usually obfuscate the code. And few people who use the sites or the computers know or even care how it works. Now, phones look the same, web sites look the same, even cars really look the same in many ways. They have become tools and background.
Just because you can use it does not mean you can do anything outside of the interface it provides for you. But I guess (after a long semi-rant) that is what the level 0 means. You can push the button. Like navigators using a jump cassette
So MgT1 defines the computer skill as both in a sort of sliding scale, with basic use at 0 and more advanced capabilities at higher levels.
From MgT1's explanation of computer skill:
The Computers skill is for using and controlling computer systems.
Accessing publicly available data: Education or Intelligence, 1–6
minutes, Easy (+4). Doable with Computer 0 nearly all the time.
Activating a computer program on a ship’s computer: Education or
Intelligence, 10–60 seconds, Routine (+2). Doable with Computer 0, often on the first try
Searching a corporate database for evidence of illegal activity:
Intelligence, 1–6 hours, Diffi cult (–2). Very hard to do with computer 0. Not super easy even with Computer 2, which is usually equivalent to mid-grade workforce level skill.
Hacking into a secure computer network: Intelligence, 10–60 hours,
Very Diffi cult (–4). Hacking is aided by Intrusion programs and
made more diffi cult by Security programs (see page 92). Very hard to do for anyone without major gear and special modifiers.
CT says for Computer: The individual is skilled in the programming and operation of electronic and fibre optic computers, both ground and shipboard models. But all of the tasks described revolve around programming.
Yet older people with years of experience struggle to navigate a web based shopping cart.
If there's a single thing I want out of the modern AI surge is a digital assistant that can deal with the BS modern websites keep forcing on human beings.
No, not APIs, or any of that nonsense. Let the AI "read" the web page, "navigate" menus, click through all of the BS pop up garbage, key in the credit card and click SHIP IT.
Yet older people with years of experience struggle to navigate a web based shopping cart.
If there's a single thing I want out of the modern AI surge is a digital assistant that can deal with the BS modern websites keep forcing on human beings.
No, not APIs, or any of that nonsense. Let the AI "read" the web page, "navigate" menus, click through all of the BS pop up garbage, key in the credit card and click SHIP IT.
I'm waiting for a website that is as easy to use as a paper catalog when you are trying to find something that works or looks right out of a massive line of choices. Scrolling page after page of often random choices on some website is not particularly efficient or effective.
For example, I was remuddling our kitchen. I wanted new lighting but was not set on something in particular (other than NO recessed lighting!). Trying to wade through sites to see and compare different styles and what have you simply wasn't working. It was incredibly frustrating because I couldn't compare and contrast different models. But with a few catalogs in hand, it took virtually no time at all to select several styles that appealed, compare them, and select what I wanted.
If there's a single thing I want out of the modern AI surge is a digital assistant that can deal with the BS modern websites keep forcing on human beings.
No, not APIs, or any of that nonsense. Let the AI "read" the web page, "navigate" menus, click through all of the BS pop up garbage, key in the credit card and click SHIP IT.
And it'll be worse than the current experience, but in different and innovative ways. Perhaps not at first, but it'll get updated into something both more intrusive and more annoying. There's shareholder value to think of!
I'm waiting for a website that is as easy to use as a paper catalog when you are trying to find something that works or looks right out of a massive line of choices. Scrolling page after page of often random choices on some website is not particularly efficient or effective.
For example, I was remuddling our kitchen. I wanted new lighting but was not set on something in particular (other than NO recessed lighting!). Trying to wade through sites to see and compare different styles and what have you simply wasn't working. It was incredibly frustrating because I couldn't compare and contrast different models. But with a few catalogs in hand, it took virtually no time at all to select several styles that appealed, compare them, and select what I wanted.
I'm waiting for a website that is as easy to use as a paper catalog when you are trying to find something that works or looks right out of a massive line of choices. Scrolling page after page of often random choices on some website is not particularly efficient or effective.
Back in the day there was a mail order company that used to send out catalogs (I know, that doesn't really narrow it down).
But the interesting thing, is that their Order Entry process was essentially the phone operator looking at an electronic version of the catalog, layout and all.
Only it was active, they could click on things, etc.
When they talked with the customer, they'd ask them what page they were ordering from, and went from there. In contrast to just taking item numbers over the phone.
The reason the company did this was not for customer service per se, but to onboard operators more quickly. Teach the operator how to navigate the full color catalog pages, seeing what the user is seeing on the other end of the phone, asking "Do you like that belt on that page? Would like to get that as well?" for easy upsell, etc. Much lower training time for the operators.
Oh no doubt. The sites will detect it (somehow) and push back. Because the user hostile, data grabbing, dark pattern shopping experience is part and parcel to the online experience and a gateway to extra profits. And if the customer turns into an uncaring bot that can't be influenced or distracted, it impacts a direct line of revenue.
But it'll be great. I won't need an ad blocker because I won't be reading the sites at all. The bot will, and it'll summarize articles to whatever level of detail I may be interested in.
Back in the day there was a mail order company that used to send out catalogs (I know, that doesn't really narrow it down).
But the interesting thing, is that their Order Entry process was essentially the phone operator looking at an electronic version of the catalog, layout and all.
Only it was active, they could click on things, etc.
When they talked with the customer, they'd ask them what page they were ordering from, and went from there. In contrast to just taking item numbers over the phone.
The reason the company did this was not for customer service per se, but to onboard operators more quickly. Teach the operator how to navigate the full color catalog pages, seeing what the user is seeing on the other end of the phone, asking "Do you like that belt on that page? Would like to get that as well?" for easy upsell, etc. Much lower training time for the operators.
I order a lot of obscure books off Amazon, etc. these days. I usually am buying for some specific purpose that Amazon or whoever doesn't have the first clue about. They then tend to start showing a bunch of other books with, You might like this title too... And almost always it's something in which I have ZERO interest in purchasing. Why can't they find a way to let me peruse titles and such online and easily and quickly thumb through a selection I make to see if I might want it? I can do that at a brick-and-mortar bookstore, but sure can't do that online.
As an aside, I'm trying to get one from a book seller in Australia right now that will not ship to the US and trying to find an intermediary that will buy and transship the book for a fee. That appears to be a no-go that I can't understand. You'd think they'd want to make some quick cash turning around a book like that.
Well, first, unless you're using a tablet, you're not "thumbing" through anything.
Tablet touch interfaces are close to being comparable to a full on book, but they don't have that scanability, where you're rifling through the pages looking for .. "Oh, hey! what's THAT! Oh...nevermind...moving on".
As a long time bookstore stalker...er...shopper, the online interface can not compete with the book shelves of books that I can scan in a heartbeat.
It's simply a field of view thing. There's so much information on a bookstore bookshelf. Perhaps, not optimally organized, but it's useful, and its fast. It's also tactile, picking up and book and, well, see "rifling pages" above.
But even then, you're getting those bookstore recommendations. For example, most books you'll be seeing their spine. Others, they have turned forward so you can see their cover. But its hard to imagine a less intrusive way of having a "see also" or subconscious "pushing" of a book.
The difference, of course, is that it's thematic to the topic of the bookshelf (sci-fi, westerns, history),rather than to YOU the shopper.
Maybe with the new AR and VR tech they can bring stuff like that back.
My experience with computer screens, from smart phones to television, is that they have to be user friendly, and that the information is easy to isolate, and digest.
I find the smartphone too small to peruse pages, and tablets too awkward, though I've spotted an accessory that might change my mind.
Double page spreads are reminiscent of books, but they also allow presentation of data in an easily digested format.
His Grace Alanir Kimar Re'Donan, Duke Ikhnaton, Marquis of Jullanar, Count of Emeraldis, Baron of Serit Arco[logy], Baron of Gakush, and Baron of Emerald Gate, M[edal for] C[onspicuous] G[allantry], K[night] C[ommander of the Order of] G[ateway], Warden of the Damgar Deep, Defender of the Imperium; First Senator of the Republic of Jullanar; Commander, Jullanar Navy (res[serve]); Chairman of the Board, Sekor SA; Director, Sharurshid; Director, Mustimondos Cybernetics LIC; Karun, Kimushenama; Regent, Imperial University of Jullanar; Patron, Duke of Ikhnaton University; and Sangus, Argushiigi Admegulasha Bilanidin
Spoiler:
Duke Alanir is the sector duke for Ley Sector; as such he's perhaps the best, if most extreme, example of the many hats worn by a high Imperial noble. First, he's the head of House Re'Donan, which has two cadet branches: Silauraux, the marquises of Onud, and de Ley, the counts of Tancred. He has six Imperial titles: sector duke, marquis, count, and three baronies. In one of my many departures from Traveller canon, a baron is rarely named for a world; rather; their titles reflect cities and other lands held as fiefs on a mainworld. To give them an appropriately sci fi feel, barons are named for starship construction yards - the Count of Towermorn is also Baron of Yard 5; mines - the Marquise of Helena is Baroness of Drift Twelve and the Marquis of Realmuster is Baron of Platform 80-88; starports - the Countess of Uumpopula is Baroness of Starlanding and the Count of Arsouf is Baron of Richardsport; and plain ol' geographic features, of which my favorite is Baron of Welcomehome, the capital city of the planet Phytore, the furthest trailing system in the Third Imperium. Duke Alanir's baronies are the Serit Arcology and the city of Garkush on Jullanar and Emerald Gate starport on Emeraldis.
Next are two honors, the Medal for Conspicuous Gallantry (MCG) earned during his naval service and knighthood in the Order of Gateway, and two honorifics, Warden of the Damgar Deep, an astrographic feature adjacent to the Jullanar Drift, and Defender of the Imperium, conferred along with his MCG.
This is followed by his local title, First Senator of the Republic of Jullanar, and military rank, commander in the planetary naval reserve. Jullanar is a republic and the duke is neither head of state nor head of government; he's a senator in the planetary legislature, but his title of marquis and status of patroon of a Merchant House earns him an honorific and other perquisites such as preference on committee selection. He attended the planetary naval academy to earn his commission and deployed on active service in the Jullanar Navy, which is part of the provincial (subsector) fleet. He continues to fulfill his required annual commitment to maintain his rank.
Now we come to the duke's economic power base, his holdings as patroon of House Re'Donan. The house's primary holding is Sekor SA, which builds, sells, and maintains computers and information systems. Sekor doesn't rise to the level of a megacorporation, but its reach extends across Ley Sector into the neighboring sectors of Fornast, Antares, and the Empty Quarter; they build machines and networks under contract to the Vilani megacorp Naasirka as well as their own brands. Duke Alanir is also a director for two other corporations, the Vilani megacorp Sharurshid and Mustimondos Cybernetics LIC. He's the only high noble in the sector to have a seat on the board of a megacorporation - such is the recognition accorded a sector duke - while Mustimondos is the primary holding of one of the Re'Donan cadets, Silauraux.
Finally we get to Duke Alanir's charitable pursuits: he is a karun (Bilandin, 'director') of Kimushenama, the Vilani equivalent of Médecins Sans Frontières, regent and patron of two universities, and sangus (Bilandin, 'patron') of the Jullanar branch of the Vilani 'Repository of All Knowledge.'
Each high noble is a business and charitable leader and nearly all have some sort of military service as well, most with the Imperial Navy - Duke Ikhnaton is an exception in serving with his planetary navy and the provincial fleet and Duchess Titanstorm is a former Scout who also served in the Ministry of State as a diplomat before unexpectedly inheriting her family titles.
My conception of Third Imperium nobility is strongly influenced by the Landsraad as well as the Sicilian Mob, so there is a mix of both cooperation and competition; the various noble houses are intermarried, of course, and own stock in one another's companies; there's also a joint ownership mining consortium loosely inspired by CHOAM. However, there's endless jockeying for position, particularly for the subsector duchies; the marquises of Helena lost the duchy of Guadix Drift to the marquises of Aldernis due to maladministration a generation ago and the Marquis of Nirgym is scrambling to keep the duchy of Nightmare after a major scandal involving his family's sector-wide shipping line while the marquises of Dornis and Dreamith sharpen their knives and maneuver to become the next subsector duke or duchess.
So, why care? Friction between the nobles creates conflict in the setting and while the adventurers are unlikely to ever interact with them directly, they may encounter their works. Consider a potential patron:
Spoiler:
Suuzii Imaargii was an Imperial Marine, putting in a dozen years then joining Duke Alanir's regiment of huscarles (private military unit) for another eight. Finally done with lugging a fusion gun, she accepts a position in Sekor SA's security arm, as a bodyguard, investigator, industrial spy, or whatever the job demands. Marine, mercenary, bodyguard, investigator, spy - Suuzii can show up as a patron encounter any of a dozen ways: trying to track down an old service buddy, conducting a background check on a Sekor employee, investigating the theft of corporate secrets, and on and on.
Understanding how the nobility makes and keeps its fortunes - how corporations are structured and officers compensated - how NGOs operate and the role of patronage - the power relationships of political actors in a polity with a largely unwritten constitution - all of it feeds into creating the world in motion on which a sandbox Traveller game like mine depends.
Why can't they find a way to let me peruse titles and such online and easily and quickly thumb through a selection I make to see if I might want it? I can do that at a brick-and-mortar bookstore, but sure can't do that online.
If you can thumb through it, so can a bot. Concatenate enough thumb-throughs and you've got the entire book. They're trying to prevent piracy -- likely at the expense of more actual sales than they'd lose to pirated competition.
Heck, I'm old enough to remember when that was a L33T statement of confidence in the future of the internet: you didn't ever actually need to do backups, just connect your system to the internet, and you'd always be able to find your stuff again eventually.
