Exactly; the ham radio community still exists, too, and there are still interesting technical problems to crunch on in that area (I imagine, I haven't actually

Exactly; the ham radio community still exists, too, and there are still interesting technical problems to crunch on in that area (I imagine, I haven't actually touched a radio since getting my license in 2001). But the "scene" is different. In the larger cultural scheme of things, it's a backwater, not an attractor of new talent and fresh thinking.