---
title: "High Tech Without Knowledge"
type: "article"
slug: "high-tech-without-knowledge"
url: "http://localhost/article/high-tech-without-knowledge/"
markdown_url: "http://localhost/article/high-tech-without-knowledge.md"
published_at: "2026-03-12T18:33:59+00:00"
modified_at: "2026-03-12T18:34:00+00:00"
featured_image:
  url: "http://localhost/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/20230809-041332.jpg"
excerpt: "An editorial arguing that powerful computing tools—word processors, spreadsheets, graphing software, and modeling programs—are being misused due to inadequate knowledge of grammar, statistics, and programming fundamentals. The author critiques flawed statistical reasoning, overreaching cosmological models, and poor software quality (including a dig at MS-DOS 6), then advocates learning C as a portable successor to BASIC."
category:
  - name: "SMUG Bytes"
    slug: "smug-bytes"
    taxonomy: "category"
    url: "http://localhost/category/periodicals/smug-bytes/"
post_tag:
  - name: "Editorial"
    slug: "editorial"
    taxonomy: "post_tag"
    url: "http://localhost/tag/editorial/"
genre:
  - name: "Editorial"
    slug: "editorial"
    taxonomy: "genre"
    url: "http://localhost/type/editorial/"
publication_r:
  id: 37935
  title: "SMUG Bytes"
  type: "periodical"
  url: "http://localhost/periodical/smug-bytes/"
volume: "10"
issue: "3"
issues_articles:
  - id: 50215
    title: "SMUG Bytes v10 n3"
    type: "issue"
    url: "http://localhost/issue/smug-bytes-v10-n3/"
pages: "1"
pubdate: "June 1993"
archive_link: false
---

# High Tech Without Knowledge

An editorial arguing that powerful computing tools—word processors, spreadsheets, graphing software, and modeling programs—are being misused due to inadequate knowledge of grammar, statistics, and programming fundamentals. The author critiques flawed statistical reasoning, overreaching cosmological models, and poor software quality (including a dig at MS-DOS 6), then advocates learning C as a portable successor to BASIC.