Quothe Fred N. van Kempen, from writings of Thu, Oct 17, 2002 at 05:08:37PM +0200:
> Today I got a call from one of Holland's major daily newspapers (for
> those of you who are curious: its the NRC Handelsblad). They asked
> me if I were willing to write them a feature article on "Retro
> computing: strange people, or a necessity for the future?". This
Why did you choose that title? There's nothing strange about people
who collect and use older computers---the truly strange people are
those who use Microsoft products and go around purchasing new products
just to have something new, as opposed to being content with something
that's familiar, well designed and pleasant to use. The same goes for
older cars, vinyl LPs, etc. and those who use these and other older
products/technologies.
> (working) title is mine; what they mean is: are we just being weird
> geeks, or is preserving the computing past something required for
No, we're not weird. We have an active interest in using and
preserving things that are typically well designed, and, surely many
of us most certainly do not consider ourselves to be "geeks," finding
that term to be offensive. We're not circus side-show freaks just
because we have a sensible appreciation for useful vintage technology,
be it related to computers, cars, horse-drawn buggies or equipment
using valves/tubes.
> future generations to understand the world in which they live, and
> how things got to be that way?
The problem is that far too many people in the present generations
have no clues about the world in which they live, and by their
cluelessness are destroying the world in which we live.
> Any suggestions here?
See the aforementioned.
> [the answer, by the way, is: "yes, we're weird. so deal with it."]
No, we're not. Kindly refer to the book "Eccentrics" by Weeks and
James, which presents proof that we're not; the book presents evidence
showing that eccentrics are psychologically healthier than the
conformist 'droids who are destroying this world.
RDD
--
Copyright (C) 2002 R. D. Davis The difference between humans & other animals:
All Rights Reserved an unnatural belief that we're above Nature &
rdd_at_rddavis.org 410-744-4900 her other creatures, using dogma to justify such
http://www.rddavis.org beliefs and to justify much human cruelty.
Received on Thu Oct 17 2002 - 12:03:01 BST