I'm fairly sure that for a lot of the mainstream population, having an active interest in technology and technical things has almost always been considered antisocial or at least suspicious. I've never been convinced that that's been particularly good for our society, but that's the attitude. (And, unfortunately, the attitude of a lot of key decision makers of our society as well.) If I could make any single paradigm change I wanted, that would be a strong contender .. my memories of dealing with some of that hostility are particularly bitter.
(The hostility to people who have the ability to self-educate is, if possible, even greater than it is to people who seek out formal education. It seems the pursuit of knowledge for knowledge's sake is seen as some sort of sin by some people.)
On Jul 17, 2008, at 1:10 PM, John B. Stephensen wrote:
Wanting to learn about things technical was considered anti-social in the 1950's and 1960's so that hasn't changed.
73,
John KD6OZH
"No nation was ever so virtuous as each believes itself, and none was ever so wicked as each believes the other." -- Bertrand Russell