Conversation

The Internet kinda made information collection hobbies obsolete. Before there was Wikipedia and tvtropes there were encyclopedias, collectible cards, newspaper clippings, etc. Owning and rereading them was central to nerddom. It was the only way to learned a subject.
5
63
Things I learned by literally half-memorizing entire encyclopedia style sources: aircraft, astronomy, birds, animals, world history, history of science. I don’t think nerdy kids do that anymore. It’s all a google search away now. I have memory brain more than query brain.
7
18
Memory brain is probably a dumber brain than query brain. You end up nostalgic and overindexed on your cached encyclopedic knowedge sets. It’s just raw data. It’s not like you developed working expertise. Still, it’s a fun brain. Good for mental play.
1
14
Reading and memorizing raw data sets is going to seem like the weirdest thing about the 20th century. Information became cheap enough to be universally accessible, but not so cheap you could do rent-over-own/on-demand/lean knowing.
Replying to
Before the 20th century and cheap offset and widespread literacy, nerddom was not possible at a mass level. After, it got eaten by software. Digital native nerds are not really nerds. They’re something else. Subculturists. More about connecting than knowing.
2
15
Becoming a finely preserved 80s relic may be the key to graceful aging for me. I shall hereafter strive to properly embody and represent the spirit of that most noble of decades as a living museum. The best decade one could hope to come of age in 😎
1
9
I gotta start collecting notes for my memoirs. Working title: That 80s Guy. As in product of the 80s, not a prominent actor in it. Everything about the world can be explained by: you’re all just just jealous of us 80s people. We got the best of both worlds.
9