I've been lacking inspiration this week; today I'm calling on a Quora colleague, Ian Lang, to help out once more. (I do have Ian's blanket permission to use his Quora answers here.)
The question:
If teenagers from 1980s could see our modern-day world, what do you think that they would be shocked by the most and what kind of questions would they ask?
By Ian Lang, Leading Technician:
If teenagers from 1980s could see our modern-day world, what do you think that they would be shocked by the most and what kind of questions would they ask?
By Ian Lang, Leading Technician:
So, here I go with my spotty face from 1982, travelling into the future and —— it’s 2019!
What the feck-
Why is everybody staring at a little glowing box and typing out vacuous messages to one another rather than talking? What the feck is a Facebook and how can you possibly have eighteen bajillion friends?
Hang on. Last time I looked at the top forty, we had Madness, The Police, Blondie and Adam and the Ants. Dexy’s Midnight Runners. Now it looks like you’ve got a bunch of bland pretty boys and clone-women all singing the same bleedin’ song. And what do you mean you don’t go down the record shop? Download an MP3? Knob off. I want my boom-box.
Your mum and dad drive you everywhere? Have you never heard of a bus? Where’s all the Wimpys gone and what the feck is sushi? Or burritos? Starbuck was the cocky bloke on Battlestar Galactica- what’s he doing selling coffee? What do you mean they remade it and turned him into a girl?
You want to work in what? Marketing? Do you mean advertising? No? Well, what the bloody hell is it, then? Holistic sales promotion? You’re just talking bollocks, aren’t you?
Why in the name of all that’s holy do you say everything as though it’s a question? What are you babbling about when you say “OMG, LOL, it’s like you’re a caveman, dude?”
Why are you all dressed in running shoes when your parents drive you everywhere and how come you’ve all got five bleedin’ computers but hardly any of you know how to program them? Or change a fuse. How come you all go to university but none of you can change the wheel on a car? You’ve all got twenty million A levels each? So how come when I ask you a question the answer’s always, “oh, I dunno? Google it?” And what’s a bloody Google anyway?
God almighty. Send me back to 1982. You’re all at university now, even if you don’t pronounce the -versity bit, so there must be someone who knows how to do it.
No, I’m not bloody Googling it. Google off you spoilt little bleeders. And go and vote in this Brexit thing. Whatever it is. I’m going to see if anybody’s got work for a turner.
6 comments:
I think we're all lacking inspiration at the moment, Twilight. I know I am. Ian Lang's contribution: very amusing, very true!
I've just posted an item regarding Brexit that should have everyone screaming out for a second referendum, but doesn't. The very courageous talk by Carole Cadwalladr is eye-opening to anyone who hasn't been following the whole ghastly criminality around Brexit. It's worth a look when you have time.
RJ Adams ~ Thanks - yes I've now read your post and the Cadwalladr one too. It is a ghastly scenario, as you say, but social media has a dastardly tight grip, and minds once manipulated are hard to change.
There'll be hardly time for a 2nd referendum to be organised, from what I've read, but if enough people demanded it I'm sure the EU would be willing to assist by extending dates further. As it is I bet May and Co will simply flounder on, week after week, and get nowhere.
I know tongue firmly in cheek but Old Ian sounds quite curmudgeonly. The internet has so much positives that I believe they far outweigh the negatives. We have different ways of communicating and for starters I would never have met you and my other blogmates. Brilliant.
I hear ya on the lack of inspiration, I get ideas for the blog and before I write them down they've evaporated, damn this short term memory thingie, it drives me absolutely mad. Or as we say out here: "It has me drove, b'y."
XO
WWW
Wisewebwoman ~ Yes, curmudgeon is Ian's "thang" when he's in rant mode. :-)
Like everything else in life, the internet and social media have their dark sides. They can be used by those with ulterior motives. I guess that's the price we pay for the net's many benefits. We have to be constantly watchful and aware (even a wee bit cynical).
Received via e-mail from "JD" in the UK
Are you well after your medical adventures? I hope so.
I looked at the Cadwallader article. She has realised that these techie wizards seem to be devoid of any sort of humanity, they are more like robots. I wrote a blog posts about these geniuses about 18 months ago -
https://theylaughedatnoah.blogspot.com/2017/08/tv-from-sublime-to-ridiculous-by-jd.html
The second part is about silicon valley. I wrote that these people are insane and later somebody on Max Keiser's TV programme said the same thing and he knew a lot of them.
It is one of the reasons I am so relaxed about all the scare stories of artificial intelligence being a threat. Only if the machines are created by people who are actually intelliogent and there is no sign of that. They are all logical in everything they do and that is no substitute for thinking. As an example, it is very easy to build a computer to beat the best grand masters but... can they build a robot/machine capable of winning a game of snooker? That thought occurred to me last week while I was watching the snooker on TV. Think about it. Very subtle 'cat and mouse' game snooker :) (All right I know Americans can't understand the game just as they can't understand cricket!)
JD ~ Many thanks, JD - medical adventures still a work in progress, but so far, so good. :)
Those people in Silicon Valley live in their own enclosed "bubble", not a part of our world at all. The all-encompassing surveillance and mind-manipulation they are creating - now - makes our world more like "1984" world day by day, however.
LOL! I don't understand snooker either, and cricket sends me to sleep, but I know what you mean. Pool is the US equivalent of snooker, I guess.
Post a Comment