Got to thinking--uh oh...

Well, I was reading a little blurb today talking about the difference between kids growing up today vs in the past--you know, the usual discussion about outdoors and friends vs TV and video games--and something jumped out at me.

The people who are inventing, developing, and advancing all of these wonders of technology ARE the kids who grew up in the old system.

Getting out, being free to make their own mistakes, doing what (and when and where) they wanted likely led to these people being creative, inventive, and well-rounded enough to see the big picture. Now, they are capable of creating things (whether it be a great technological advance, a brilliant movie, or whatever) that, perhaps the next generation will for the most part be incapable of.

Just look at the drivel coming out of the music, film, and TV industry--lacking in imagination, not to mention the missing perfectionism--or perhaps better stated as finesse--that is characteristic of a worldly, well-rounded mind.

With the age of virtual tourism (rather than getting out and experiencing it) and all static nature of life in general for the average person (especially young people), are we headed for a sort of modern-day Dark Ages ?

The Dark Ages were characterized by lack of artistic and imaginative activity--sure, there were still advancements, but mostly they were advancements in areas like military technology--very little original thought, just a lot of making what already existed more effective (the slogan for 3M is ringing in my head right now--"we don't make a lot of the things you use, we make a lot of the things you use better").

With what I see happening in the arts and sciences today, it seems we are headed for a period of time where very little that is new is created--just a lot of rehashing of old ideas or making what we have more sophisticated (or, in the case of the arts, much less so).

It would appear to me that this is a direct function of the fact that most kids growing up today are taught things in a very factual manner, and along with that goes the phenomenon of TV and video games where the ideas are fed to the user rather than being explored by the user. Even the early days of computers required thought (Basic, and then DOS, required problem solving just to run the freakin' things), but now everything is dumbed down--point, click, doesn't work, call support.

Obviously I don't know what the future holds, but it would occur to me that what I've stated above seems likely.