My own thoughts on surplus...

From: Max Eskin <max82_at_surfree.com>
Date: Sun Aug 22 14:47:50 1999

Before you flame me about this e-mail, read this disclaimer: what is in this
may be construed as heresy to the religion of this mailing list. I'm not
being heretical. I am a very curious person, and I like to deal with
machines, sometimes even build my own. Below are my observations of society
at large, and the explanations which fit. It does not reflect on classic
computer collecting and other hobbies to which you may be partial.

Original message from Bruce Lane:
> 1). The "PC Revolution." The advent of PCs did a lot to bring cheap
>computing power into the hands of home users. The problem here is that
>consumer pressure pushed PCs from well-built reliable systems into cheesy
>'commodity' electronics that could be quickly and easily mass-produced.


You mean, "it pushed companies". Home users used IMSAIs, PETs, Apple ][s,
TRS-80s, and other cheesy, easily mass-produced machinery, and before that
they simply didn't use anything.

> Why? Because those who might have gotten into the field as a hobby settled
>for buying consumer-grade crap off-the-shelf, no matter how cheesily it
>might have been built, instead of modifying existing equipment, or building
>their own device.


Well, consider that at a certain time, building computers was a trend. A
lot of people did it, a lot of people enjoyed it. Now, certain other
computer-related things are trendy, and a lot of people do them and enjoy
them. I don't think that this can be blamed on the PC revolution, I think it
should be considered the natural flow of things. By the same token, a lot of
people now work on Web design. This will lessen when web design has evolved
to a formulaic, mechanical task (it's already happening). Cheesy
consumer-grade crap cannot be built on a kitchen table these days. Nobody
would build a PCI VGA card when one can be bought for a lower price.

> 2). Schools: The labels of 'geek,' 'nerd,' and other such epithets have
>been flying around our public school system for decades, along with a
>social climate that, for reasons I've still not figured out, seems to
>actively discourage curiousity, hands-on engineering skills, and pursuit of
>interests in the physical sciences.


For one thing, don't start blaming the problems of your hobby on public
schools. Secondly; I haven't heard those labels at my school, mostly because
they're not used. They're not used because it's no longer reasonable to BE a
geek. Sir Lancelot was quite useful in his age, but if he came into an army
recruitment center today, people would see him as Don Quixote. His approach
is no longer valid.

The fact that curiosity is discouraged is very true, and a very important
point. The reason why is a blend. Most kids haven't a clue why they're
forced to learn what they learn, and they say that they'll never need it
again. When they become teachers, therefore, they have no idea why they're
teaching what they teach. And so, when a student displays curiosity, the
teacher sees it as his job not to harvest curiosity, but to make sure that
the student is learning what he's supposed to, just for the sake of learning
(I do speak from experience). When I have seen a piece of equipment which I
wanted to know more about in my school's science lab, the teachers often
display a strong desire to chase me out of the lab, or the entire school if
it's after school hours.

Of course, from a social viewpoint, this has an excellent use: it keeps
people in power, it keeps corporations making money, without a whole lot of
challenge. This has (or so I've heard) been different during the space race
days, when it was necessary to have as many scientists as possible working
on the rockets.
Received on Sun Aug 22 1999 - 14:47:50 BST