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So sad... My grand-dad (a mostly self-educated inventor with 200 patents to his name) turned me on to SciAm in the late 1960's. I immersed myself in the world o

So sad... My grand-dad (a mostly self-educated inventor with 200 patents to his name) turned me on to SciAm in the late 1960's. I immersed myself in the world of Martin Gardner, Douglas Hofstadter, and A. K. Dewdney. It may be difficult for the younger generation to really grasp how important a single magazine or newspaper could be back then, with today's overabundance of information channels. Most of them, if they exist at all, are now a pathetic shell of their former selves.

hilbert42 5y ago
"So sad... <...> I immersed myself in the world of Martin Gardner, Douglas Hofstadter, and A. K. Dewdney." So did I, and it is a sad day that it's come to this. SciAm and other technical mags were my lifeblood as a teenager. When the monthlies were due I'd race to the newsagent after school and occasionally when one was late I'd fret in disappointment. You're right, I reckon it is difficult for younger generations to grasp not only how important magazines were to us but also many other aspects of life back then. Trying to put the zeitgeist of an earlier era on a young head never works thus the younger generation has to work things out for itself. If we could accurately convey a past ethos then we probably wouldn't have any more wars but then we would never develop as a species either - it's the two-edged sword problem. Back to SciAm. Unfortunately I've had the impression for quite some time that the mag is near its end. I've seen this happen too many times previously with others that have had a long illustrious lineage. For some reason their editorial quality goes down followed by the circulation, they're then sold off and the new owners have no intrinsic interest in their subject matter, they then lose more and spiral further downward until they're soon defunct. Still, I hope I'm wrong about SciAm.
pdonis 5y ago
> I immersed myself in the world of Martin Gardner, Douglas Hofstadter, and A. K. Dewdney. So did I. SciAm today is a travesty, and it has been for years. I canceled my subscription in (IIRC) the late 1990s.

hilbert42 5y ago

"So sad... <...> I immersed myself in the world of Martin Gardner, Douglas Hofstadter, and A. K. Dewdney." So did I, and it is a sad day that it's come to this. SciAm and other technical mags were my lifeblood as a teenager. When the monthlies were due I'd race to the newsagent after school and occasionally when one was late I'd fret in disappointment. You're right, I reckon it is difficult for younger generations to grasp not only how important magazines were to us but also many other aspects of life back then. Trying to put the zeitgeist of an earlier era on a young head never works thus the younger generation has to work things out for itself. If we could accurately convey a past ethos then we probably wouldn't have any more wars but then we would never develop as a species either - it's the two-edged sword problem. Back to SciAm. Unfortunately I've had the impression for quite some time that the mag is near its end. I've seen this happen too many times previously with others that have had a long illustrious lineage. For some reason their editorial quality goes down followed by the circulation, they're then sold off and the new owners have no intrinsic interest in their subject matter, they then lose more and spiral further downward until they're soon defunct. Still, I hope I'm wrong about SciAm.

pdonis 5y ago

> I immersed myself in the world of Martin Gardner, Douglas Hofstadter, and A. K. Dewdney. So did I. SciAm today is a travesty, and it has been for years. I canceled my subscription in (IIRC) the late 1990s.