Re: Average Age of the Perl Monk

I'd guess that the Internet, with its rapid-fire, google-ized nature has made people a little less patient. I remember doing research papers by looking at past newspaper articles, reading books, etc. I also know how quickly one can find an answer by using the Internet. I've found myself becoming less patient of late. I've had to fight the temptation of firing off a quick question when an 'RTFM' and some effort on my part would yield the same answer.

I'm not saying this is just happening to the younger generations. People my own age have become less patient when looking for answers because we are getting used to the speed of the Internet. My own father, once a good programmer for the TS-1000, TRS-80, and C-64, has used me for a crutch for a while, rather than learn on his own.

Maybe we need to resolve that, instead of relying on the work and intelligence of others, we should rely on our own industry. After a reasonable amount of time, we should then look to help from others.

Just my $0.02...

piroufreek

Comment on Re: Average Age of the Perl Monk - Poll?

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Re^2: Average Age of the Perl Monk - Poll? by diakonos (Hermit) on Apr 21, 2005 at 14:16 UTC
I think you have hit on something. I was reading an article the other day about how we have lost the creativity that our ancestors once had. We live in a world today that is so dependent on machines that we are not looking for new methods to solve problems. To give you an example, the Egyptian pyramids, the Roman viaduct, or even the base stones in some of the ancient temples. We ask ourselves today "How did they do that?" They had a problem and they created a solution. Today we seem to have a problem and want other people's solutions and want them now. As you say “instant gratification”. Thanks for your reply, very appropriate	[reply]
Re^3: Average Age of the Perl Monk - Poll? by hardburn (Abbot) on Apr 21, 2005 at 21:15 UTC
Hogwash. An Egyption slave pulling a huge block wasn't any more creative than most people today. There happend to be one guy who figured out how to move enough huge blocks to build a Pyramid, but there only needs to be one such guy with a good political position to make that happen. We have people like that right now, solving problems in the modern world. There has always been this thought that the latest generation is somehow inferior to the last. Jazz rotted your brain. Then Jazz was normal and Rock and Roll rotted your brain. Then Rock and Roll was normal and Electronica rotted your brain. And so on. It was bunk then, and it's bunk now. Except for these kids with the Playstations with analog control sticks and egronomic controlers and games that work the first time you stick them in. They should have to play with simple D-pads on a controller modeled after a brick and cartridiges that had to be blown on for a while until the power light stopped blinking. Oh, and we were too poor to afford wires, so we had to power our Nintendo via induction. "There is no shame in being self-taught, only in not trying to learn in the first place." -- Atrus, Myst: The Book of D'ni.	[reply]
OT Pyramid Builders and Shoulder Standing by jZed (Prior) on Apr 24, 2005 at 23:10 UTC
An Egyption slave pulling a huge block wasn't any more creative than most people today. There happend to be one guy who figured out how to move enough huge blocks to build a Pyramid Not that it has anything to do with anything, but recent archaelogical research has shown that the actual workers on the pyramids, were a) not slaves, b) well treated - e.g. better fed than average, good housing, had health care available, etc. c) proud of their work. Perhaps there were only a few architects, but architects aren't the ones who find the solutions to the many practical problems of implementing the archtitect's design and there's evidence that many of those solutions were provided by the teams of workers. As to the "this younger generation isn't as good as we were" meme - I think it's safe to say it's always been around and has both truth and falsehood in it. One difficulty in comparing ancient inventiveness to modern inventiveness is the shoulder-standing thing. If our ancestors hadn't invented, language, writing, math, etc. we'd have a difficult time doing all the things that are supposedly smarter than the things our ancestors did. OTOH, any civilization that pays people to lie to them (advertizing) can't be the smartest bear in the forest.	[reply]
Re: OT Pyramid Builders and Shoulder Standing by Anonymous Monk on Apr 27, 2005 at 22:17 UTC
Re: OT Pyramid Builders and Shoulder Standing by dragonchild (Archbishop) on Apr 25, 2005 at 12:35 UTC
Re^2: Average Age of the Perl Monk - Poll? by bofh_of_oz (Hermit) on Apr 21, 2005 at 18:08 UTC
I would definitely agree that we should rely on our own intelligence. The only problem is that as I look around, I see that younger people are used to getting information (well, almost) instantly, and so they do tend to be quite impatient; at the same time they do not want to invest their time and efforts into research to find answers to their 'problems'. Oh, and modern education doesn't help it either - students are allowed to use their iPods to record teachers' lectures, the use of calculators and computers allows them not to run "complex" calculations in their head, and so on... Looks like soon youngsters will not know how to read, write, or do math by themselves, without using all the gadgets... Ironically, it seems that best computer 'wizzards' are people who can do very well without a computer... It's like that: If you can think, you can use a computer to be much more productive, but computer can't do the thinking part for you. Just to make it clear: when I talk about age and being young, I mean 'mental age', or 'level of maturity' if you wish... I am 27 myself but sometimes when i'm outdoors, I feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of kids... In that sense, any Perl Monk seems to be between 30 and 40 - the age when all the potential is fully utilized and there's still a long road ahead till Alzheimer's :)	[reply]
Re^2: Average Age of the Perl Monk - Poll? by Thargor (Scribe) on Apr 21, 2005 at 17:33 UTC
I couldn't disagree more. I think it isn't the impatience of those looking for answers but those giving the answers that has steadily declined. As no one ever learns from scratch or at least they don't anymore all our knowledge is based on others. Also it is the person who answers the questions choice whether or not to respond so I see no point in trying to slow down the speed at which others can gain and expand upon knowledge. I wouldn't doubt if there are more younger people using pm than there used to be me being one of them but why should someone horde knowledge from me when a solution to my question is already out there...doesn't that make it sort of like a proprietary solution?	[reply]