Thought I’d share this interesting story from Kaveh Waddell in The Atlantic wondering whether the kids of today will turn into the technology-phobic curmudgeons of tomorrow. Will being exposed to constant dizzying technological change and enthusiasm inoculate today’s youth against a future fear of technology? Or will the technology of the future be just as different from today as an iPhone is from the telegram?
…A middle-aged person in 2050 who was born in the 1990s, … grew up during the fastest-ever period of technological change. They saw computers speed up by a factor of fifty between 1990 and 2000, before shedding pounds and morphing into portable, pocket-sized marvels.
To be sure, the computers that ‘90s kids learned and played on will likely bear little resemblance to future devices, be they neural-interface computers, or something totally unimaginable today. An easy aptitude with an iMac won’t be a leg up in 2050. But it’s possible that the experience of constantly learning new technological concepts as children will have taught them how to pick up and understand novel gadgets.