(no subject)
Now that I have a job of making something and using my brain, I'm convinced that the only way this generation is going to fix anything is to realize that they're not kids, that they are not just PART of the world but MAKE the world what it is, and therefore it is important to make things and use your brain. Unfortunately I don't think this concept is common or well-understood.
Let's think about the internet. What do kids use it for: Facebook, primarily. That "web 2.0" stuff is not going to last because it's nothing. We think it's real, but it's not. The only person it's real for is the guy who made it and the people who work for him. They're making money off of us wasting time. That's not a system that can last. Twitter is even worse.. people pass around what, useless articles like "top 10 ways to step on a tack!" Making money for who? A little for the person who "wrote" the article, and a whole lot more for the person who runs the website.
It's not real, it won't work. We need to make real things, like machines that we can use. Who of our generation is going to make the next bunker buster bomb? I'm counting on the physics and engineering people.
English and other things can be useful, too. People used to write and read, and buy books and magazines. Why? Because the writing was good and people knew how to read! Words used to be so powerful that writers would war and write angry insulting poems to each other and people would buy them because they were funny. Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, etc. did this. Who of our generation can come CLOSE to achieving this power.
Almost anything can be useful, after all, we do make the world we live in. But a lot of the things swimming around right now are pure crap because everybody's too afraid to take a risk and do something hard. For example I have to learn everything about business, marketing, and energy because I'm trying to make something. I'm not only sitting by the fire reading poems all day. Who's paying for that fire? Who's paying for that book?
Let's think about the internet. What do kids use it for: Facebook, primarily. That "web 2.0" stuff is not going to last because it's nothing. We think it's real, but it's not. The only person it's real for is the guy who made it and the people who work for him. They're making money off of us wasting time. That's not a system that can last. Twitter is even worse.. people pass around what, useless articles like "top 10 ways to step on a tack!" Making money for who? A little for the person who "wrote" the article, and a whole lot more for the person who runs the website.
It's not real, it won't work. We need to make real things, like machines that we can use. Who of our generation is going to make the next bunker buster bomb? I'm counting on the physics and engineering people.
English and other things can be useful, too. People used to write and read, and buy books and magazines. Why? Because the writing was good and people knew how to read! Words used to be so powerful that writers would war and write angry insulting poems to each other and people would buy them because they were funny. Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, etc. did this. Who of our generation can come CLOSE to achieving this power.
Almost anything can be useful, after all, we do make the world we live in. But a lot of the things swimming around right now are pure crap because everybody's too afraid to take a risk and do something hard. For example I have to learn everything about business, marketing, and energy because I'm trying to make something. I'm not only sitting by the fire reading poems all day. Who's paying for that fire? Who's paying for that book?