Obsolete Skills

[Anacardo]

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I guess people are just more specialized . . . than they once were.

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This is a good thing. A very, very, very good thing.

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But it doesn't feel good [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[Triumph36]

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I guess people are just more specialized . . . than they once were.

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This is a good thing. A very, very, very good thing.

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But it doesn't feel good [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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because it shouldn't. it means you have less knowledge about the things around you.

everything i have a bizarre talent for - directions, spelling, math in my head, recalling obscure facts of all sorts - basically all tricks of memory - are becoming useless. at least there's still poker.

[suzzer99]

Casually slipping into the porno room at the video store w/o being spotted, then finding a good porno based on the cover, all while maneuvering in the cramped space to avoid making any physical contact with another dude. A lost art.

Of course all is lost when you're waiting in a line full of people and the clerk yells out to the other clerk "Are we missing Barely Legal Ass Pirates 7?".

[LuckOfTheDraw]

Cool thread, and when I think of a good one, I will post it. However, nostalgia should be kept in check lest we overlook new novelties. For instance, take the art of fast forwarding cassettes and timing commercials breaks, both already mentioned here. Combine them, and voila, you have the new art of fast forwarding through commercials on a DVR. I am very good at this.

[SmokeyRidesAgain]

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Philuva,

Researching information without the Internet!

It's hard to imagine the way we had to write reports looking up stuff in card catalogs and microfilm and stuff at the library. Oh man, that sucked. The difference between being good at that or not was incredible in terms of how long it took to get a report or research paper done.

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Oh man, a couple weeks ago my internet access was down due to a line fault. Aside from not getting my daily poker fix, the worst thing was wondering about something, be it a film, history, a phrase's etymology or any number of things, and not being able to just run to the computer and google it. It felt like part of my brain was missing.

[NNNNOOOOONAN]

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The days of blowing on your nintendo games are over.



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not for me mwahahahahahahahah

[Borodog]

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I guess people are just more specialized . . . than they once were.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a good thing. A very, very, very good thing.

[/ QUOTE ]

But it doesn't feel good [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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because it shouldn't. it means you have less knowledge about the things around you.



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This is also a very, very, very good thing. Do you see why?

The last time everyone knw everything there was to know about all of the technologies that were utilized in their lives was probably the stone age. It is an extremely good thing that the fraction of known technological information that the typical person can master is going down rapidly.

[Triumph36]

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I guess people are just more specialized . . . than they once were.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a good thing. A very, very, very good thing.

[/ QUOTE ]

But it doesn't feel good [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

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because it shouldn't. it means you have less knowledge about the things around you.



[/ QUOTE ]

This is also a very, very, very good thing. Do you see why?

The last time everyone knw everything there was to know about all of the technologies that were utilized in their lives was probably the stone age. It is an extremely good thing that the fraction of known technological information that the typical person can master is going down rapidly.

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Boro,

You keep saying this like it's true. I can't just will myself to not feel inept when I don't know how to do very basic things. The fact that I can live and exist without doing them is nice, but it doesn't make me feel any better when I can't.

[El Diablo]

Triumph,

"basically all tricks of memory"

Being able to recall details from just about any conversation I've had with someone still comes in handy. So does remembering relevant posts and specific phrases from years-ago 2+2 threads to search for and link to them!

[Borodog]

I think the key is that over time they get less and less basic. My engine looks more like something off of the Millenium Falcon than an engine these days.