Paul Saffo Quotes About Today
-
If you look at the last 150 years, about every 30 years or so, a new scientific discipline emerges that starts spinning out technologies and capturing people's imaginations. Go back to 1900: That industry was chemistry. People had chemistry sets. In the 1930s, it was the rise of physics and physicists. They build on each other. Chemists laid the experimental understanding for the physicists to build their theories. It was three physicists who invented the transistor in 1947. That started the information revolution. Today, kids get computers.
→ -
The difference between our collective generation and your generation (differentiating the reporters from the students) is that we poured our souls out on paper that got easily yellowed and lost. The danger is that many of your friends (nodding at the students) are putting intimate ideas in cyberspace journals. So when today's 15-year-old is 40, some friend is going to drag out all of that idiotic stuff at their class reunion.
→ -
Think about reading: Today, parents would love it if their kids read books more because the parents understand the books. Just over 100 years ago, parents were upset because their kids were reading dime-store novels. Parents would say, "I don't want you inside reading anymore. Get outside and play." I guarantee you, in 50 years or so, parents are going to say, "You're not going outside to play until you finish that video game."
→
Related Authors
-
Kevin Kelly Editor -
Stewart Brand Writer -
Guy Steele Computer Scientist -
Marvin Minsky Scientist -
Esther Dyson Journalist -
Joel Garreau Journalist -
Danny Hillis Inventor -
Ken Kesey Author -
-
R. Buckminster Fuller Architect -
Richard P. Feynman Physicist -
Nathan Myhrvold Author -
Peter Schwartz Author -
Steve Jurvetson Manager -
Douglas Engelbart Engineer -
James Lovelock Scientist -
-
Paul Baran Engineer -
Ralph Merkle Cryptographer -
David Gelernter Artist