bowling and the information age, plus random musings

pheromone got me thinking about bowling recently. As an admirer/builder of things mechanical, bowling pinsetters have always been an interest. A couple of years ago i ran across (on the 'net, of course) a couple of people designing a new duckpin pinsetter. This would be cool, as no company has made one since about 1947. All duckpin bowling centers still running are doing so via ancient spare parts, sheer force of will, duct-tape, and bailing wire. I was curious to see if they had gotten anywhere, so i searched for them again today. Couldn't find them. But i did find this, on a candlepin bowling site:

"In a world dominated by technology, automatic scoring brings an age-old pastime, bowling, into the Information Age. No longer do bowlers have to mark scores on sheets of paper with big fat pencils. People are free to socialize and run to the snack bar or the restroom while the computer does the nitty-gritty work for them. Bowlers can sit back, relax, and cheer on their teammates while they bowl."

"Autoscoring also opens up the game of candlepin bowling to a new clientele - people who have never gone bowling before. These people can simply lace up their bowling shoes and roll without having to learn how to keep score. Too, the animations that autoscoring often provides entertain bowlers, congratulating them when they throw a strike or ridiculing them when they roll a gutter ball. When people see and use the autoscoring systems, they no longer will think of bowling as an antique game stuck in the 1950s in "dark, dingy basements."

Well, grump. I dont like the new "auto scoring" bowling centers. Is it really the goal of "the information age" to eliminate any need for my brain to process information? Should it be? Isn't "keeping score" in some way part of the whole "bowling" experience? Is it really better to take it out? What, exactly, is added by having those animations?

And what is this about bowling being a "dark, dingy basement" thing? What if made the above "information age" transformations to other "dark, dingy basement" activities? "No Ma'am, there is no need to count your lashes. Our automated system does that for you. When you reach 25 the wide-screen Hello Kitty Avatar will awaken and scoff at you."

If anyone does do that, i want royalties.