6 ms·

I really think the "Inflection Point" of the singularity/acceleration was very mundane: "Recently, we had the first generation in history where the wisdom of ou

I really think the "Inflection Point" of the singularity/acceleration was very mundane: "Recently, we had the first generation in history where the wisdom of our elders was more harm than boon" for basically the first time in our history as a species.

Mezzie 4y ago
I disagree, not because I disagree with the fact that this happened: "Recently, we had the first generation in history where the wisdom of our elders was more harm than boon", but because I think the phenomenon is temporary. The reason that the life advice of the Boomers, Silent Generation, and a lot of Gen X doesn't hit is due to the fact that we underwent an information era shift during their lifetime, and that due to advances, such shifts can happen more quickly than they used to. However, now that we're settled in this new digital, informationally networked world, generations are going to grow up and build new wisdom to pass on. This just takes time. A lot of the Gen Z people I've run into are happier to listen to me than I expected, but if I step back it makes sense: I was one of the first people to grow up online (I was 4 in 1993 when I joined the party) and really internalize the new way of doing things, so more of what I say is actually relevant and I can also read digital context far better than most people my age or older. In 30 years, there's going to be a lot more guidance for young people from the now older Gen Z and the very small portion of us Millennials who got to be very online our whole lives. In addition, while most elders had harmful wisdom, not all did, and this is an important point because it disproves the idea that elders should inherently should not be listened to/were useless for one or two generations because of the technological advancements. Instead, I would say the fault lies with our cultures/societies. I'm a 3rd/4th generation geek, and so I, my siblings, and my cousins grew up with adults whose wisdom was still helpful, even in this weird age. There are dozens of us in my generation with varying temperaments, religious + political affiliations, ability levels, etc. and we all know things like troubleshooting skills, how the internet and Web work, basic systems-thinking, hacking stuff together to get the results we want, etc. So my generation and the one after can/could just walk up to pretty much any random adult and get some technologically/informationally literate advice. We also learned things like how to resolve nerdy arguments and got to hear conversations between our adults about things like why the Web was a Big Deal and what it meant. We received context and it's been key in keeping us all sane. This was a rare experience for my generation, but I think it will become more common in the next 50 years. I do think the disconnect is one reason for a lot of social upheaval we're seeing/about to see, though.
amelius 4y ago
Interestingly we also see the first generation in recent history with less wealth than their parents.
- rfrey 4y ago
  We were saying that about GenX (my generation) in 1990. In fact, the genX cohort has 52% per capita wealth of their parents. Millenials are much worse off - most GenX wealth is from buying houses in the first half of the price escalation (which millenials missed). They're likely to inherit most of the Boomer wealth though. Too soon to call IMO for GenZ. In their 20s, GenX participants were mostly stoned at Nirvana concerts, with about a $9.76 mean per capita wealth.

Mezzie 4y ago

I disagree, not because I disagree with the fact that this happened: "Recently, we had the first generation in history where the wisdom of our elders was more harm than boon", but because I think the phenomenon is temporary. The reason that the life advice of the Boomers, Silent Generation, and a lot of Gen X doesn't hit is due to the fact that we underwent an information era shift during their lifetime, and that due to advances, such shifts can happen more quickly than they used to. However, now that we're settled in this new digital, informationally networked world, generations are going to grow up and build new wisdom to pass on. This just takes time. A lot of the Gen Z people I've run into are happier to listen to me than I expected, but if I step back it makes sense: I was one of the first people to grow up online (I was 4 in 1993 when I joined the party) and really internalize the new way of doing things, so more of what I say is actually relevant and I can also read digital context far better than most people my age or older. In 30 years, there's going to be a lot more guidance for young people from the now older Gen Z and the very small portion of us Millennials who got to be very online our whole lives. In addition, while most elders had harmful wisdom, not all did, and this is an important point because it disproves the idea that elders should inherently should not be listened to/were useless for one or two generations because of the technological advancements. Instead, I would say the fault lies with our cultures/societies. I'm a 3rd/4th generation geek, and so I, my siblings, and my cousins grew up with adults whose wisdom was still helpful, even in this weird age. There are dozens of us in my generation with varying temperaments, religious + political affiliations, ability levels, etc. and we all know things like troubleshooting skills, how the internet and Web work, basic systems-thinking, hacking stuff together to get the results we want, etc. So my generation and the one after can/could just walk up to pretty much any random adult and get some technologically/informationally literate advice. We also learned things like how to resolve nerdy arguments and got to hear conversations between our adults about things like why the Web was a Big Deal and what it meant. We received context and it's been key in keeping us all sane. This was a rare experience for my generation, but I think it will become more common in the next 50 years. I do think the disconnect is one reason for a lot of social upheaval we're seeing/about to see, though.

amelius 4y ago

Interestingly we also see the first generation in recent history with less wealth than their parents.

rfrey 4y ago
We were saying that about GenX (my generation) in 1990. In fact, the genX cohort has 52% per capita wealth of their parents. Millenials are much worse off - most GenX wealth is from buying houses in the first half of the price escalation (which millenials missed). They're likely to inherit most of the Boomer wealth though. Too soon to call IMO for GenZ. In their 20s, GenX participants were mostly stoned at Nirvana concerts, with about a $9.76 mean per capita wealth.