My Stuff

https://umass-my.sharepoint.com/:f:/g/personal/rwolff_umass_edu/EkxJV79tnlBDol82i7bXs7gBAUHadkylrmLgWbXv2nYq_A?e=UcbbW0

Coming Soon:

The following books by Robert Paul Wolff are available on Amazon.com as e-books: KANT'S THEORY OF MENTAL ACTIVITY, THE AUTONOMY OF REASON, UNDERSTANDING MARX, UNDERSTANDING RAWLS, THE POVERTY OF LIBERALISM, A LIFE IN THE ACADEMY, MONEYBAGS MUST BE SO LUCKY, AN INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF FORMAL METHODS IN POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY.
Now Available: Volumes I, II, III, and IV of the Collected Published and Unpublished Papers.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON KANT'S CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for "Robert Paul Wolff Kant." There they will be.

NOW AVAILABLE ON YOUTUBE: LECTURES ON THE THOUGHT OF KARL MARX. To view the lectures, go to YouTube and search for Robert Paul Wolff Marx."





Total Pageviews

Sunday, April 2, 2017

RUSHING PELL MELL INTO THE 21ST CENTURY

I have just done something truly remarkable.  I received a check in the mail yesterday, but it was Saturday, so I could not walk across the street and deposit it in the bank.  Not to worry!  I downloaded a free Wells Fargo app onto my IPhone [an impressive accomplishment in itself for someone of my age].  I then opened the app, selected the account into which I wished to deposit the check, entered the amount of the check [which lit up boxes on the screen labeled “take a picture of the front of the check” and “take a picture of the back of the check” or something like that, placed the check on the desk, took a picture of the front, turned the check over, endorsed it, took a picture of the back, tapped “deposit,” and was informed by my phone that the check had been deposited.

Remarkable!

There is just one problem.  I still have the check.  I don’t think I can deposit it a second time.  There is probably something in the computer code that stops you from doing that.  But I still have it!  Do I throw it away?  Hardly, it is money.  Should I send it back to the person who sent it?  He doesn’t want it.  He sent it to me because he wanted me to have it. 


It is sitting on my desk as I write this, staring at me.  I am not sure I am quite ready for the digital age.

3 comments:

Michael said...

I believe you are supposed to write "Deposited" and the date on the check, and then, after it goes through, tear it up and throw it out.

Anonymous said...

There is a book to be written about how unfun new technologies are when embedded in the workplace, when a person cannot afford to buy the latest gadget, yet is expected to own one... For those of us in that situation,, there no joy in these demands made via technology. Your gushing ostentatious pleasure so frequently evoked by new technologies _--_it is a recurrent theme at your blog---is, at best, awkward. Since that book has not been written, I would like to encourage you to read Bob Hughes' The Bleeding Edge, polemical, but IMHO, containing important facts. I should not spoil your good mood, but there is a larger world...

Jared P said...

I'm not sure paper checks are quite ready for the digital age, either.

(FWIW: my credit union advises me to hold onto the thing for 60 days--if no problems crop up, I can tear it up and toss it.)