Re: Schneier, Data and Goliath: no hope for privacy

Rich <rich@example.invalid> writes:

But I've also long felt that 'intelligence', just like most everything
else, tends to follow surprisingly closely a bell curve.  There's
always a small percentage of "ultra high" on one end, a large middle of
"good to great, but not at the same level of the 'ultra high'" and a
following tail who just can't, ever, get it.  It just is the way it is.

[snip]

When I wwas young, it was considered a virtue to expand your mind,
to learn new things, to develop yourself. My home was full of
books, we watched documentaries, went to museums. When the computer
arrived, I was fascinated with linux, BSDs, programming.
 
I hope that this culture is still alive.

 
It is.  Go look into the "maker community" or "maker space".  It has
shifted somewhat from our days back then but much of it is still there.
 
 

It would be so incredibly depressing if the majority of the young
today were to waste away their lives watching podcasts and playing
computer games.  It feels they would just waste their lives that way
instead of exploring it and challenging their limits, and breaking
through their limits.

 
Sadly, remember my 'bell curve' above.  Half of them will fall on the
"below median" point, and those will often be the ones who *do* waste
away their life on consuming that which others create.

Remember that "intelligence" has to be measured on multiple axes.
I've know pwople who were nearly totally illiterate who could build or
repair any (analog, non-digital) device better and faster than I. (And
I'm pretty good on that axis.)

And a lot of it is motivation.  They, for whatever reason, seem to be
unmotivated by most any argument to do other than consume for
consumptions sake.

Amusing ourselves to death.

--
Mike Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada