Notes on life, art, photography and technology, by a Danish dropout bohemian.
When you drink the water, remember the river.
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Saturday, September 30, 2006
Podcasting, not tough
If you're saying that writing or publishing or making videos and podcasting is too difficult for you, get another think. 13- and 11-year old kids are doing it.
I'll go for "profound". After all, I have a calculator which works with only the energy from ambient light.
And when I first got on the Net ten years ago, I wondered why I had to put in "modem scripts" and settings all over the place. To a geek it was obvious that I had to, for "that's the way it works, of course!" And yet now, I don't have to, I just turn on a Mac and it figures it all out automatically. One can't expect the layman to figure out at what level technology happens to be at this month.
"A five year old child could understand this! Somebody fetch me a five year old child." (Groucho Marx)
"I can give a couple of personal examples to further back up the above (admittedly rather glib) statement." Will you QUIT belittling yourself, already? Sheesh man, you really ARE wonko, always having doubts when you're speaking wisely. ;-) Kids are, indeed, extremely bright. I myself understood that when I was little, realizing how many idiotic "grown-ups" tried to make a fool of me, while I could see right through them. A child is superiorly gifted for observing, noticing and learning, it's normal given all one has to assimilate at that age. Remember this, people : never, EVER under-estimate the understanding capabilities of a small child. Freud understood this long ago. I've seen recent proof that a month-old baby can have more smarts than some very confident adults. ):-P
Also, the spontaneous reflex we acquire with time, to view the world no more as a place of permanent discovery and novelty, but as something stable we've finally figured out, stiffens our minds before the constant change and evolution of the real world (as opposed to the one we believe in). With age comes the need to comfort yourself with fixed milestones, and with the idea of having timeless references. God, tradition, civilization, family, habits, you pick. I was already an adult 16 years ago, when Saddam invaded Kuwait. Saw it on the news, to me it was "today's happenings". Well, for a teen today, this was "before his time". Therefore, it's not his life experience, it's the old cooters' History, the boring stuff they'll teach him in school. We're navigating downstream on the Time river (pun intended), and if we try to row against the flow while the young observe the changing scenery, we're likely to bump into rocks ahead because we tend to look in the wrong direction. Learn from where you've been, but remember you're still going somewhere, always. Getting old CAN make you a bit stupid...
Getting old CAN make you a bit stupid... on the other side.............it makes you wiser than those kids who are brainwashed by sarcasism and materialism..........most kids today dress like trashy vagrants and speak bad language and flaunt their ignorance like dirty laundry.
A well-known arab proverb says : "Take the wisdom, even from the mouth of a madman." So, why not from a wonko who managed to get discharged from the asylum? Of course, the madder might be the wiser, but I'll take what I can find. :-)
"Wonko Outside The Asylum", by the way, is a character from Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. He turned his house inside out and claimed he lived outside the the asylum of Earth. I know how he feels.
Hitchhikers: The movie was pretty good, at least the first half. I have read the books in English, in Danish, in audiobook form, in radio drama form, and I've seen the TV shows! Yes, you should not miss it. Very unique.
I'll go for "profound". After all, I have a calculator which works with only the energy from ambient light.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I first got on the Net ten years ago, I wondered why I had to put in "modem scripts" and settings all over the place. To a geek it was obvious that I had to, for "that's the way it works, of course!" And yet now, I don't have to, I just turn on a Mac and it figures it all out automatically. One can't expect the layman to figure out at what level technology happens to be at this month.
"A five year old child could understand this! Somebody fetch me a five year old child." (Groucho Marx)
ReplyDelete"I can give a couple of personal examples to further back up the above (admittedly rather glib) statement."
Will you QUIT belittling yourself, already? Sheesh man, you really ARE wonko, always having doubts when you're speaking wisely. ;-)
Kids are, indeed, extremely bright. I myself understood that when I was little, realizing how many idiotic "grown-ups" tried to make a fool of me, while I could see right through them. A child is superiorly gifted for observing, noticing and learning, it's normal given all one has to assimilate at that age.
Remember this, people : never, EVER under-estimate the understanding capabilities of a small child. Freud understood this long ago. I've seen recent proof that a month-old baby can have more smarts than some very confident adults. ):-P
Also, the spontaneous reflex we acquire with time, to view the world no more as a place of permanent discovery and novelty, but as something stable we've finally figured out, stiffens our minds before the constant change and evolution of the real world (as opposed to the one we believe in). With age comes the need to comfort yourself with fixed milestones, and with the idea of having timeless references. God, tradition, civilization, family, habits, you pick. I was already an adult 16 years ago, when Saddam invaded Kuwait. Saw it on the news, to me it was "today's happenings". Well, for a teen today, this was "before his time". Therefore, it's not his life experience, it's the old cooters' History, the boring stuff they'll teach him in school. We're navigating downstream on the Time river (pun intended), and if we try to row against the flow while the young observe the changing scenery, we're likely to bump into rocks ahead because we tend to look in the wrong direction. Learn from where you've been, but remember you're still going somewhere, always. Getting old CAN make you a bit stupid...
Getting old CAN make you a bit stupid...
ReplyDeleteon the other side.............it makes you wiser than those kids who are brainwashed by sarcasism and materialism..........most kids today dress like trashy vagrants and speak bad language and flaunt their ignorance like dirty laundry.
Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteYou sound just like the old grumps I used to hear ranting when I was young. And those THEY used to hear when they were young. And...
Guess some things never change, in spite of all the rest, hunh? :-)
A well-known arab proverb says : "Take the wisdom, even from the mouth of a madman."
ReplyDeleteSo, why not from a wonko who managed to get discharged from the asylum?
Of course, the madder might be the wiser, but I'll take what I can find. :-)
"Wonko Outside The Asylum", by the way, is a character from Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy. He turned his house inside out and claimed he lived outside the the asylum of Earth.
ReplyDeleteI know how he feels.
"A character from Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy."
ReplyDeleteReally? Man, I've GOT to read and watch this. Some culture is a crime to miss.
Don't punish me, Mr Castle, I promise to amend myself at the first given occasion! Honestly!
Hitchhikers:
ReplyDeleteThe movie was pretty good, at least the first half.
I have read the books in English, in Danish, in audiobook form, in radio drama form, and I've seen the TV shows!
Yes, you should not miss it. Very unique.