Often as I explore how our culture and our planet evolve; I am amazed at how we try to change everything with each succeeding generation. We, and I remember when I was young, think that our thoughts are original and therefore believe that we were the first to dream it up. Yet if we explore history we will find that the great and the unknown have probably already put forward the concept we believe to be so unique. As an example think of the Helicopter, invented by Da Vinci, yet when he conceived it, he did not have the tools to make it work.
The difference is that as the tools become available we find that now we can build and create what we imagine is a new machines. the reality, if we appreciate history, we find we now can build those things that before were only in our or someone else imagination.
With those thoughts considered we find that we tend to circle back and adopt patterns that once were in vogue and then did not pass the test of time. The best example is our explicate use of sexual overtones in advertising. The idea that the spam we once received for male enhancement products is no longer spam. Today, these products are promoted on TV prime time. They are simply examples of how we lost sight of the value of prudence and morality. Do we want to learn about feminine products, or is that something our mothers will teach us or our doctors and health classes will education us about. Do we need to know that your product is more absorbent than theirs or that you can go swimming if you buy this one?
Maybe in a generation or two we will once again realize that by exploiting the art of sex we create and stimulate thoughts that are not biblical and can in some cases harm people. Then again, as so many great artists and photographers recognize, the naked body is a beautiful thing. But, is the naked body art, when we use it to advertise cars, shampoo and who knows what else.
As a technologist I find that people think I have lost my edge given that I no longer understand the terminology they are using today. Give me a thesaurus that matches words like a self contained subroutine to an object. Then we can talk about methodologies. Do these new words like “Cloud” improve productivity? I am sure some people believe they do. More importantly do they assure the worlds population that they can get better jobs. Do these new techniques assure the enterprise that we are doing a better job of documenting what we have built. Does all of this assure the shareholders, stakeholders and customers they is getting what they asked for, are will to pay for and more important with cherish.
As an observer of our times I sometimes wonder if we are simply taken things to new extremes. I wonder if our desire is simply to lure people into buying this or that. For what? Or are we simply selling products to earn a dollar, peso, euro, yen of pound.