does technology diminish the experience?

Ok perhaps the dumbest ? ever right. I'm still doing extract and partial mash brews. Looking 2 go ag. Holy brain overload herms eherms rherms. systems that u push a button and dont do much. while in general im a huge fan of advancements and taking the work load off of myself. But the ? is does all this technoligy take away from the experience. In the end i know its all my decision, but but does taking your hands off " cheapen the experience"?

Just like any hobby, engineers come along and show everybody up (Just playing around, I secretly desire some of the bling @ss rigs I see on here). I really like to work for my beer, and I feel that shows in the final product. Although I do appreciate the thought and devotion many on this forum choose to incorporate in their hobby, I really don't see the point in investing so much time and effort into a relatively simple process. I keep homebrewing simple, but plan on having a bling commercial rig one day. One day...

before Google, you had library's, mentors, and personal successes and failures
your "best guess" sometimes led to innovation and invention, and also sometimes led to a "cat pi$$" brew
Experience is the best teacher, but now you can access the wisdom of many.
but in the end shut the puter off and brew, than your learning

I have slowly built a sort-of advanced system. I would say that it doesn't take away any of the interesting part of the brewing. Yeah, you don't have to worry about hitting you strike temp when you just set where you want it and it's good to go. However, you then have the problem solving issue in the technology side that is just as "fun" to troubleshoot. And for me, half the fun is developing better and better recipes, and replication is certainly easier with a digitally controlled RIMS.

For me, part of the 'hobby' is improving my process and using DIY to get there. I've learned so much these last years. Not only about beer, but about technology and chemistry. I enjoy making beer. But I enjoy tinkering and constantly improving my rig. That's the beauty of this ride. You can be happy with extract on the ole kitchen stove, or take your brewing to the extreme.

For me I find it kind of dumb.(hands off systems). To me the building of the sytem is the owners biggest attraction, they enjoy that. In my eyes those types of systems biggest advantage is repeatability, which to me isn't a concern at all. I do love simplifying my process and getting more effcient and not lifting heavy things though. might get a pump some day. I'll prolly just plug it in when i need it.

That is one great thing about this hobby, you can take it as far as you want in many different directions.

I'm an engineer. The primary reason I got into brewing is because it's so analog.

I spend my days working with high-tech automation technology and brewing beer seems to get me out of that head-space and into something I can get my hands on and have something to show for it. I'm sure it has its advantages, but for someone like me who just got into this, I am really into the hands-on approach to brewing. It's more fun for me that way right now.

Don't get me wrong... I've got a bunch of spare Crestron DIN-rail stuff and touch panels that I might incorporate into brewing if I want to get crazy with this.... I am an engineer after all.