Technology Changing So Quickly, The Old Is Forgotten

Wow this made me feel old, the current generation of preteens don't even know about Walkmans.

reply to post by Blue_Jay33

My two youngest children (8 and 10 years) don't even recognize the concept of a wall-mounted telephone that had an actual bell in it that rang when you received a call.

Of course, my grandparents knew how to rig the harnesses on horses to pull buggies, carts, wagons and farm equipment. I don't.

I like the story about the NASA engineers who forgot how to light the fires and had to call up the guys who had retired for instruction.

reply to post by Blue_Jay33


Haha! Ok I feel old too. Sad though isn't it? My four year old thinks everything has a touch screen!.. I'm trying not to let him fall into that trap but it's difficult.

In some cases technology advances so quickly that people and lawmakers have difficulty adapting. Technology has allowed us to freely distribute others' intellectual property without giving the originator or contributors proper credit or compensation. People have had their finances or reputations ruined by unprecedented access to information and communication channels. These are just a few examples. I think the advancement of technology is promising in many ways, but it has the potential to be troublesome if not well managed.

Snarl
I like the story about the NASA engineers who forgot how to light the fires and had to call up the guys who had retired for instruction.

where is this so story? wouldn't mind reading it.

What shocked me more than anything about this video, was @ 1:48. The pop up fun fact said only 15,000 cassette tapes were sold in the U.S. in 2010. 15,000 cassette tapes were sold as recent as 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who would of thought that???? I would of guessed ZERO!!!

On that note, LONG LIVE THE 80's MOTHER fers!!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

reply to post by Blue_Jay33


My kids will never know a time when there wasn't a computer in the home.
I didn't get my hands on a computer until the late 80's.

reply to post by IroncladFT

What's a cassette?

My tape player is called an 8-track.

It didn't take those 8-tracks long to disappear when the cassette came out. OMG they sucked.

reply to post by butcherguy


I remember my older brother had an eight track in his car, those things were massive.

If you remember listening to those then you know you are really old

reply to post by butcherguy


lol...my family had a few around the house in the late 70's and the player. I remember listening to them now and then, but cassettes were the in thing. I mean cmon, creating mixed tapes and recording the radio for your favorite song hoping the DJ would shut up and NOT ruin the ending by cutting in to early..lol

Man I miss the 80's!!!!!!

OK now i really want to travel in time and go back to the 70s with an iPod full of very old songs from their time and show it to people , how would they react ?

reply to post by grey580


I think everyone was happy in the 80s cause our heroes had poofy hair and tight pants....my first concert was Van Halen and my first real cassette was Hysteria Def Leopard...that was the album to get me deep into music!

amraks

Snarl
I like the story about the NASA engineers who forgot how to light the fires and had to call up the guys who had retired for instruction.

where is this so story? wouldn't mind reading it.

Although the F-1 and J-2 engine plans still existed, over time NASA and the companies involved in the production of these rockets lost knowledge about them as people retired or forgot about how to operate them.

Source Not the full story I remember, but a good lead if you really want to look for it.

Snarl
I like the story about the NASA engineers who forgot how to light the fires and had to call up the guys who had retired for instruction.

amraks
where is this so story? wouldn't mind reading it.

Snarl

Although the F-1 and J-2 engine plans still existed, over time NASA and the companies involved in the production of these rockets lost knowledge about them as people retired or forgot about how to operate them.

Source Not the full story I remember, but a good lead if you really want to look for it.

So much of the good stuff isn't on the internet yet.


Mike Grouchy

I sometimes we are victims of our own advancement.

Like for instance.
We all have Smart Phones, well the majority of us at least, but a couple of folks still have the good ole flip phones.
I had an NCO who was brandishing his new flip phone and he ask me to plug in some numbers on his flip phone cause he was busy with some things, so I flipped it opened and tried pressing the numbers....I couldn't, no matter how hard I tried, it wasn't working, so he looks up at me an asks, "Whats wrong?", I responded, "I think your touch sensor is off, its not responding to my finger...", He just stared at me for a good full minute at which point he finally said, "dude, that's a normal F###!!! flip phone, its not touch, you see those keys? yeah those, PUSH THOSE!!"
I was dumbstruck at my stupidity, I totally had a brain fart, I knew what it was, but for that moment, I seriously thought it was a touch screen too.....

There is other devices just as old out there, like TV top boxes to change channels, old Wooden Box TVs, rotary phones....

Good thread, S&F

I would think that the old tech, that which was once new, eventually becomes cheap toys.

Consider the field of optics for instance. At one time mirrors, prisms and lens were mind blowing technology with developments as simple as the kaleidoscope to other instruments like the microscope, telescope, camera obscura, stereoscope, etc. Now a days a cheap toy microscope or telescope is far better than the earliest designs that back then, blew everyone's minds. Look at how the GAF Viewmaster as a toy evolved from stereoview photography.

I can see a future where kids have their own genetic modification lab kit on their birthday and can make their own GM pets or clone dead ones.

reply to post by butcherguy


Yep, that's what I had too. I used to learn to play songs on the guitar from listening to the 8-track. The hard part was when you missed a lick you had to wait for the track to finish and replay that track again to hear it... I had much more time back then though...sigh

Has this happened to anyone else?

I'll be watching some movie and a character will find themselves in a sticky situation. I'll think to myself, "why don't they just use their cell phone and....oh.....they didn't have them back then!"

It's interesting to show kids those old rotary phones. They usually always ask, "If that's a phone, it doesn't even have buttons!". 16 year old kids will even say that.

You can definitely tell the times have changed when 4/5 people in an elevator are looking at their smart phones.

reply to post by Blue_Jay33


Aww, man. That's so hilarious! I feel old too.