> Spike Jones <spike66@ibm.net> wrote:
>
> > How can we avoid passing on similarly inappropriate values
> > to the next generation?
Howard Rothenburg wrote:
> Also, what is the short list of skills that we would recommend?
Further: consider this singularity notion. Ignore for the sake of
argument the SINGULARITY where all the computers rewrite
their software to become some unknown new entity. Consider the
singularity as described by Damien et.al. where the rate of change
becomes so rapid that forecasting becomes difficult or impossible;
a gray curtain hides the future, etc.
In some limited sense, are we not there right now? I am at a loss
to tell the very young what they should spend their energies on,
because *I do not understand their times*. Those who do not
spend time thinking about the future have no such misgivings, they
simply pass on their own values, which to the casual observer are
clearly inappropriate.
For instance, I saw a TV interview with a teenager who was
being asked her vision of the future. She said she wanted to
get the "money thing" out of the way by 30. The money thing!
That was the most hilarious comment. {8^D
But consider for a moment: one of those kids I mentioned in
an earlier post, whose father invested in her behalf. Depending
on how I count net worth, this child of not yet 7 years may
already have a net worth which exceeds mine, or if not, will
have soon. My value system led me to never invest in any
company which has not bricks and mortar. Her stock portfolio
contains no companies that do own these relics.
Nowthen, how could I or anyone teach her the value of money?
Would I advise her to doggedly refine the skills that lead to a 9-to-5
in a cubicle farm, such as mine? While I was busy toiling my
life away thus, she was playing barbie dolls and messing her diapers,
while cleanly passing me on the financial inside lane. If she merely
understands investing, there is no need for her or her contemporaries
to ever bother with these things at which we worked so hard.
Earlier generations never needed to worry about what to teach
the young, they already knew. No questions asked. Moderns
who ponder not, similarly have no problems: they simply pass
on notions that are now incorrect, inappropriate or useless. In
this sense, the singularity is not really a future thing, it is upon us.
spike
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