[ExI] Then and still Now (was Re: bees again)

[Mike Dougherty]

2012/2/7 spike <spike66 at att.net>

>  As with most of us.  We achieved a fraction of our potential, because so
> much of our time growing up was spent being babysat by the television.  The
> content had approximately zero socially redeeming qualities back in those
> days.
>
And it has more now?!?  Honestly, I don't feel that for all of our
exponential increase in the rate of change that things are all that much
different.  I will admit that my own apathy may be accelerating at a rate
equal to our rate of change.  It seems we should be much closer to all the
wondrous things promised to me during my childhood.  Computers were
supposed to delivering immersive VR by now.  To hell with the flying cars
cliche, we should be flying at the speed of thought (minus lightspeed
latencies) through a multiverse of our own creation(s).  What do we
actually have?  Another bloated OS release to support the next bloated
software release that drives the next hardware purchase to keep our
productivity constant. I could type 90 words a minute in 1986.  I might be
able to type 90 words a minute now, but now I can do it while streaming
video of a talking dog.  (that's progress)  In 1988 we made fun of
christmas modemers partly because we were jealous of their 9600 baud rate,
partly because the n00bs didn't understand the hard-won nerd culture.  That
nerd culture has been supplanted by the mainstream.  Yeah sure, there's
probably several variations of nerd subculture still out there - perhaps
I've just moved on from being part of those groups.   The technology has
made it possible to be more of the same as we've always been.  The details
may be 30+ years different, but people's "trending" feels the same.

Sorry Spike, this rant really is out of nowhere (at least I changed the
subject line).  I considered discarding rather than sending, but I wondered
if anyone else shares this nagging sense...
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