[vcf-midatlantic] OT: people don't understand computers anymore

Ethan telmnstr at 757.org
Tue Jun 7 14:19:30 EDT 2016


> 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





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