What It’s Like to Experience New Technology After 25 Years in Jail

Michael Santos was in prison from 1987 to 2012. Imagine how much the world has changed in that time. Computers, smartphones, and the internet present a mountain of things to learn, if you hadn't been with it all along.

Technology has changed considerably during the 25 years that I served. I read extensively during my term of incarceration, but reading about technology felt a bit like reading about typing. Regardless of how much I read, I wouldn't grasp the power of technology until I started using it. Forget the power, I don't even understand the language of technology. For example, I never understood what people meant when they spoke of a "browser." In fact, I just asked my wife to define a browser, and when she described it as a program that would allow me to access the Internet, I gave her a blank stare.

"But I thought the browser was the little text box on top of the screen, where I type in what I'm looking to find on Google."

"No honey," she said. "That's the URL bar."

Actually, you should type what you're looking for into the Google search field. Which all reminds me of young people who grew up using computers making fun of grandma's slow learning curve. The huge amount of information needed to learn anything new is so much easier when you get it little by little, instead of having to confront it all once. Read more about Santos' learning curve at Gizmodo. Link  -via Digg


Comments (7)

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He really is a shining example of whats wrong with our justice system, sentencing is unfair, prisons are more focused on punishing than rehabilitating, and you'll always be seen as a convict. It seems to me the only reason he is a better person is because he acknowledged his mistakes and made sure to never make them again.
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wow just looked up this guy (to find out what he did) he really got the short end of the stick on this, he spent 25 years in prison for cocaine trafficking, he's spent more time in prison than most murderers do!
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I'm a little confused. From my understanding the prison system does have access to some sorts of technology (computers etc) for inmates to access including classes and time to use them. Wouldn't the prison slowly adapt as well as the technology changes? I'm not saying that they all have new mac books but a decent PC to access internet etc.

BTW I use firefox as well and typing in the URL goes immediately to google search afterwords. Love that i can just type anything into my URL and it looks it up for me.
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I'm 54% Bionic :p I can't type at the best of times, plus the keyboard on screen seemed to be off my keys by a space! Anyhoo, anyone interested in the new show?
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Bah, I'm 52% bionic ... got a 100% on that 'hearing' test but flubbed the blasted "running" test utterly! Still that was rather fun, huzzah for my inadequately organic components =P

And anybody who introduces themselves by relating what books and comics they've read recently seems pretty danged good to me (actually I'm currently trying to get into Chia Mellville's Perdito Street Station myself, I get the feeling I -will- enjoy it if I manage to get through the first chapter ...) anyway, hello! =)
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Perdido Street Station was the first book I read by him, and I found the first 200 pages or so painfully slow. In fact, I put it aside for a month or two. Eventually (and thankfully) I went back to it. It really picks up. The Scar is fantastic and the third book in the series was also very good (although a bit too blatantly communist for my taste).
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I got exactly 75% on the 8th try. Some hints are to write down the asdf order and the pic stuff, and for the keyboard hunt and peck works. I got 100% on the running one and 75% on the math.

I unlocked a short video. The bionic woman turns around while in a dark alley to see a thug come out. She begins to assess him with her bionic eye with a split screen effect (left side is regular/right side is bionic assessment). Her assessment show a knife in his right hand. He walks toward her and asks if she is looking for something. He slashes at her and she grabs his hand, knocks the knife up into the air, knocks thug onto his back, catches knife out of air, and puts it to thug's neck. This is done quickly in a fluid motion but not so fast as to not catch it.

I tried to get a better score to see if it would unlock more or better stuff, but I couldn't.
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I was 77% bionic on my first try. What I got was pretty lame--4 second clip of two people stuck in an elevator with alarms and "security breach" blaring in the background. I don't think either of them was even the Bionic Woman.
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If you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin'. And I got about 55% four straight times before deciding to write stuff down.

I went back and did it again. After getting 82%, I unlocked another short video. One guy turns to another and asks how long til she's combat ready. The other replies that she's a civilian. That was it two whole lines.
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Haha, I got 68%... On my first try... No cheating.

Do I get a cookie?

I messed up the hearing thing, but I got 75% straight for the first 3 tests...
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I can't get past the first test... I've been able to touch type since I was about ten years old. I can type faster than I can talk, and I never need to check my hands to see what I'm typing. So having to completely relearn a whole new keyboard layout is so confusing...
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I hope the show lasts more than a few episodes; I've seen the pilot and it's suprisingly good. There are a lotta folks from the new Battlestar Galactica involved with it, and who would've thought that show could be good?
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