4 ms·

This reminds me of when I first read about fractals: a collection of phenomena I've been staring at all my life, but never really saw until someone pointed out

This reminds me of when I first read about fractals: a collection of phenomena I've been staring at all my life, but never really saw until someone pointed out how to see them. Currently popular music mostly sounds like noise to me, but that's not the point. What are the current generation of musicians supposed to do, be silent and spend their lives listening to the great bands of my youth? It's impossible to match Pink Floyd in the style of Pink Floyd. They need a new style. Facebook is losing traffic to whatever is the latest trend in social media, not really because people are suddenly paranoid about privacy, but because each generation needs a network where the previous generation is not. And for as long as humans write programs, there will be a need to invent new languages, not because the old languages were technically inadequate, but because each generation of programmers needs a way to escape the shadow of the previous generation, the way acorns need squirrels to carry them away from the shadow of oak trees.

scns 8y ago
Love the analogy with the squirrels
DenisM 8y ago
Exactly. It's not just music, consider modern and post-modern art. Even earlier art can be seen as a form of protest against the tyranny of the establishment of yore. It's interest to see which parts of our civilization came which side of the divide. Market economy, for example is a great way for a young enterprising person to find their own footing away from the old (hence startups). Academia OTOH went totally the other way (hence grad school).
zippitydoodah68 8y ago
..and this is the problem. The assertions of escape. I don't understand it. I would write prose the same way Jack Vance (did) and Gene Wolfe (does) if I could write. There can be one true way for the expression of logical thought. We can try exceptional dialects but they fail because they cannot encompass every concept we should expect and they cater to the ego and domain. OTOH, the young always have a fresh perspective and they usually have good ideas based on the times. They should be listened to and mentored. Very few active older (1995+) folks left in IT ,after the method management and purposeful purging methods of the last 10 years, to mentor them. Most of us weren't great at teaching anyway. It was a paycheck.

scns 8y ago

Love the analogy with the squirrels

DenisM 8y ago

Exactly. It's not just music, consider modern and post-modern art. Even earlier art can be seen as a form of protest against the tyranny of the establishment of yore. It's interest to see which parts of our civilization came which side of the divide. Market economy, for example is a great way for a young enterprising person to find their own footing away from the old (hence startups). Academia OTOH went totally the other way (hence grad school).

zippitydoodah68 8y ago

..and this is the problem. The assertions of escape. I don't understand it. I would write prose the same way Jack Vance (did) and Gene Wolfe (does) if I could write. There can be one true way for the expression of logical thought. We can try exceptional dialects but they fail because they cannot encompass every concept we should expect and they cater to the ego and domain. OTOH, the young always have a fresh perspective and they usually have good ideas based on the times. They should be listened to and mentored. Very few active older (1995+) folks left in IT ,after the method management and purposeful purging methods of the last 10 years, to mentor them. Most of us weren't great at teaching anyway. It was a paycheck.