That fellow would have us believe a machine will one day rival the artist’s palette and brush.
He made me sit perfectly still. He stood behind a tree legged contraption, flung a sheet over his head and bent down. In one hand he held aloft a device on a stick. All of a sudden the wretched thing flashed brightly and billowed smoke into the air. I was near blinded and almost choked. I’m to return tomorrow to view the result of his endeavour.
No, he is wrong. Next, they’ll suggest that machines will one day replace pen and ink.
Utter balderdash!
Thanks to Rochelle for hosting and Ted Strutz for the picture.
Click on the frog to see what others have come up with
It’s all been downhill since the invention of fire
LikeLiked by 1 person
I wonder what bright spark invented that?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love that word – balderdash! Splendid. Imagine what the men in the photograph would think to the internet. Great story Keith
LikeLiked by 1 person
According the dictionary it was first used in 1674! Delighted you enjoyed it Lynn.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I did! And glad to see that word has such a long history 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Keith,
Delightful story. I used to work as an inker-detailer for a drafting firm in the 1980’s. At that point word was that in the not too distant future my job would be done by computer. Preposterous balderdash. 😉
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thanks, Rochelle. What will happen to jobs when everything in life is automated?
LikeLike
Y2K was supposed to throw the wrench in the gears of technology. Does anyone remember Y2K?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was running my pub that night, and the bar was packed with locals wondering what would happen at midnight – and nothing did!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A universal experience: nothing happened. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
And someday AI will make humans irrelevant…. or so they say.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not just yet, hopefully! cheers Denise
LikeLike
Total balderdash! Then again, there you have Froggy, holding one of those contraptions, and calling “Watch the PEEPS!”
And they say one day messages will appear on a screen as if typed by a ghost.
Nonsense, that! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s all nonsense, the lot of it…probably! Cheers Na’ama
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cheers (wait, how did those letters appear on the rectangle? They keep appearing as I touch something. This must be a delusion. Do you see the same thing I see?!!) 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I did actually see something like that when I got back from the pub last night!
LikeLike
Who needs a screen? Soon the thoughts will appear in our brains exactly as though we imagined them…
LikeLiked by 2 people
oh oh … I’m not quite ready for THAT much transparency … 😉
LikeLike
Perish the thought!
LikeLike
Poppycock and codswallop, old bean
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed, absolute bunkum dear boy.
LikeLike
If only they knew… Good fun Keith.
LikeLiked by 1 person
If they’d been told what was to come they wouldn’t have believed it! Cheers Iain.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nice one Keith
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Di.
LikeLiked by 1 person
How far we’ve come in some ways. Naysayers will always exist and continue to be proven wrong.
LikeLiked by 1 person
So true. Cheers.
LikeLiked by 1 person
p.s. love this week’s froggie!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Imagine if… Good story Keith.
Tracey
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some modern devices have gone beyond imagination. Thanks Tracey
LikeLiked by 1 person
As long as we don’t teach them to think so that they can replace us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ll remind you that you said that in 10 years time when a device is thinking for you! Cheers Mimi
LikeLike
My father-in-law who is 94 used to say that in his younger days no one even imagined the changes that have happened.
Well written 😊
LikeLiked by 1 person
Even 20 years ago we couldn’t have imagined things like Alexa and smart TV’s. Where will it go next? Thanks Lakshmi
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow I never thought of the smell. Great last line.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apparently they did! Thanks so much Tannille
LikeLiked by 1 person
Who knows where the future will take us. I never thought there’d come the day when if I had a question to ask, or a fact to find, I would just go to my computer and voila! You’d think we’d all be a lot better informed than we are, I guess. Thought provoking.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Everything we now do will seem old fashioned and out-moded in another hundred year! Cheers Sandra
LikeLike
Ah, the good old days…
I wonder what things will be like a hundred years from now. Still no flying cars, I bet.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You want to bet? You’re on!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, the well-worn phrase – ‘It’ll never catch on’. They said that about air travel – in my father’s lifetime!
LikeLiked by 1 person
It wasn’t that long ago the suggestion that phones could take pictures would have seemed fanciful!
LikeLike
Oh, wow, you captured that so very well. I remember sitting for just such an “old-timey” photo many many years ago to my Gram happy. She threatened me with bodily injury if I so much as breathed. When the photo came out, instead of a smile, I looked terrified. I’d love to know where that photo went, now, though.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s hilarious! How times have changed. Thanks so much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bubkis! Balderdash is one of my favourite words.
This was a fantabulous story. Next thing you’re gonna tell me no one will go to the moving pictures…
LikeLiked by 1 person
…even better than that – they could soon be in colour!
LikeLiked by 1 person
No!!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree, what balderdash – next thing we will all have plugin memory chips implanted in our brains, least we forget.
Then we can get lost in the past.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You could well be right, but hopefully not in our lifetime!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s a nice light-hearted look at technological progress, Keith, and a rather good take on the prompt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Most kind of you Penny, thank you.
LikeLike
You did an excellent job of portraying their thoughts and feelings over this new invention.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Little did they know where it would go next! Thanks Fatima.
LikeLiked by 1 person
like I’m reading a classic book. The language is very elequent and I love the humor at the end!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s most kind of you. Thanks so much for dropping by.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Really fun, Keith. A whimsical look at “progress.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much Linda.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good stuff, my maths teacher used to say, Bunkum, trouble, tripe and balderdash
LikeLiked by 1 person
They don’t make words like those any more, lol!
LikeLike
Progress … will it be for the good or bad? A whimsical looks at what the future
has in store or, perhaps, the present has in store. It’s always a pleasure to read you stories.
Isadora 😎
LikeLiked by 1 person
If it’s not in store now it will be tomorrow! Thanks so much for your kind words Isadora.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very clever! I enjoyed this trip to the past
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m delighted you travelled with me Laurie
LikeLike
The opening of Al Capone’s vaults and Y2K were both two big disappointments. I, for one, don’t miss many of the old things like manual typewriters as I used them. Balderdash! I’ve read if you want a job in the future, become a teacher. It’s going to be a while before a computer can stand in front of a class of primary students and teach them, etc. The computer wouldn’t have the patience or personality. I love Froggie and his camera, Keith. 😀 — Suzanne
LikeLiked by 1 person
You raise many good points Suzanne. Progress brings with it many highs and lows, but continue it must and continue it will. Once again I spent longer messing around with the frog than I did writing my piece but I think he’s wort a bit of my attention!
LikeLike
Ha! I love this retrospective/hindsight story! Good one!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m pleased it worked! Thanks so much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love it! It’s amazing to consider where we were and where we’ll be in ten years even.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I have trouble keeping up now! Cheers Brenda
LikeLiked by 1 person
As a photographer I am often amazed at the skills and tenacity of those who came before me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
There certainly was much more involved. I used to have my own darkroom and developing photos was much more fun than clicking a screen
LikeLiked by 1 person