Ethan, I agree; there are those who take a deeper interest. And just to be clear: I don't decry the lack of general computing knowledge. Rather, I do think it is a problem that many STEM programs are content to teach technology using pre-defined building blocks, rather than starting with the atomic structures with which those blocks are built. I'm not saying the everyone in tech needs to be experts, but some solid knowledge of electronics and physics fundamentals should be stressed. Otherwise, who will create the innovations of the future? Surely not those who build with nothing but macros. On Tue, Jun 7, 2016 at 2:19 PM, Ethan via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
Oh - Ted Nelson, at a VCF-E dinner, said to me he tried to teach a
computer course at a community college. He said "I gave up in three weeks, because the students didn't know (bleep) about computers".
There are a few smart people that end up pioneers in industries and such. Many are probably just lucky at being at the right place at the right time. We remember them because of their contributions, we forget the others. When we think back to old times we're selective and picking all the pioneers and such.
People have varying degrees of interest in subjects. Some really dig into computers, some dig into cars, there are many other fields. There is a lot more going on now than the past. These old systems are pretty low hanging fruit compared to today I'd wager.
I see friends working on FPGA projects, writing HPC compilers, and doing all sorts of other crazy stuff. On the retro side look at the innovations coming out for the hobby be it console games, computers, arcades. Some of it isn't ground breaking but it's still low level stuff that shows deep understanding of systems.
Look at the 64K demo scene contests that currently happen around the world on the PC. To me that's modern, and so amazing. Blows my mind. Look at the videos on youtube, 64k demo 2015 or 2014 or 2013