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'His bold prediction, popularly known as Moore's Law, states that the number of transistors on a chip will double approximately every two years.' - Intel
Warning: Some minor technicalities in first two paragraphs.
I hail from a period of Pentium 4 computers (AMD was fairly popular too, but the Pentium 4 series had a very deep impression on me with their 'Intel inside: Pentium 4' metal plates on PCs). Macs were rarely seen. My first family PC was powered by AMD's Athlon (I think K7), followed by an Athlon 64 3500+ (still single core) after the former's demise. 2012, I am using a 2009 Core 2 Duo in an Intel-dominant market where Core i5s abound.
As average Joes, we are always far from the frontline of technology. We don't have the moolah; we don't have a need. Things are mostly advancing faster than our rate of adaption. Firms are always churning out new and increasingly similar product ranges to try to cater to every available consumer in the market. Typically, these product refreshes or new lineups comprise several models - sometimes with overlapping qualities - each time, and we see these updates happening once or twice each year. Have you wondered why can't we have new software that can effectively utilise our current hardware setup? 'Hey my XP machine can't handle Vista' was a common grouse when Vista first emerged. To be fair, XP was a 12-year OS. But did Vista turn out to be a better option for us the computer novices?
Our society is emulating the progress of technology. It is moving forward; some values are discarded and some are clung on. Pre-martial sex was really, really taboo 10 years ago. Maybe it happened anyway but no one talked about it. But now we are more open about it. It has become more acceptable. While our parents look so disgusted about it, we don't find it a big deal. So who decides what values remained in our roots? How do you set your rules?
Is it correct that parents ought to go with the flow and learn new ways of educating their children? In the past, the cane/feather duster/broom was a powerful weapon. I used to nick the canes and hide them in my drawer (poor choice, I know). The skin would 'pop up' like veins after being whacked. I don't know if I learnt my lessons then; it just made me madder and want to break things. But we still did not shout at our parents in public and throw things at them.
My parents' and teachers' times were of being made to kneel on durian husks for punishment and making their way alone to school on Sec 1 registration day. Nowadays I see maids carrying bags for Sec 1 students. I guess that's okay too, after the NSF incident. However I am proud to say that Holy Innocents' Primary School, then under the firm but kind guiding hand of Mr Jimmy Tan (see Mr Sng too), stressed to students to carry their own bags.
Why do kids seem so bad as compared to our generation, or is it always like this; we seem bad compared to the previous generation? Are they old-fashioned? Will we become obsolete too? Should parents learn how to employ new methods of education to adapt to what their children have become? Or maybe the parents have already failed in fulfilling their role during a part of their children's growing up, thus having to turn to newer methods of parenting?
Been listening to 'Don't give a damn' on UFM 100.3~
