[nbashaw]

True, our kids won't grow up hacking the same systems we did, just like we didn't grow up hacking the same systems as our parents. But there is something basic to the human spirit that guarantees as long as this branch of the gene pool is still around, we'll still tinker and build and create. It's just that the blocks are constantly changing. Which keeps things interesting, and is a good thing.

[bigiain]

Yep, the more things change, the more they stay the same...

When I was a kid, you could but germanium diodes and ferrite core coils, and make yourself a crystal radio - it was _magic!_

But...

There was no way I could have gotten hold of something like an Arduino - probably not for _any_ sort of money, never mind the sort of budget kids birthday or Xmas presents run to...

The same with a lot of other stuff, I had to wait till my first paper round job to be able to save up enough money to buy the ~$200 (in 1982 dollars) radio control gear before I could build an rc plane. These days that's $24 or so delivered from China...

I remember playing with my fatyer's grandfathers predecessor to Meccano, stone building blocks with pressed steel girders. I suspect children today probably look on historical toys like lego with similar charm/disdain...

[lucasjake]

Exactly. The end of the PC era doesn't give rise to the 'iPad era,' it gives rise to Ubiquitous computing, and Apple knows this.

The trajectory goes: mainframe: one computer, many people personal computer: one computer, one person ubiquitous computing: many computers to many people

If anything, people are going to be programming the shit out of everything in the future, not pulling back.

[5hoom]

Agreed 100%.

Someone, somewhere will have to program all these wonderful gadgets.

While it is conceivable that all development will occur only inside big mega-corps, I somehow doubt it. People have a voracious appetite for new content.

Smart money is on the tools to create new stuff becoming more widespread, not less.

[mturmon]

Yes. The fact that all these useful sensors (touch, display, camera, location, attitude, wifi/3g) are integrated in one small, portable, and not-that-expensive device opens interesting new possibilities.

Think of the hobbyists who send their phone into space on a balloon.

[freshhawk]

That's true, I have no worry that "the future" is going to be worse.

But that's long term, it doesn't mean that we don't want to avoid repeating the eras where this kind of tinkering was repressed or legislated against. Those eras slow down innovation and take wasted effort to recover from.

Just look at what happened on the web when all those tinkerers stopped having to break into the tools they wanted to use and could spend all their energy doing new things.