Comment · Thu, July 19, 2012
Is it true? Did the baby-boomers take advantage of the social programs their parents created and cemented, then voted to dismantle those same benefits for their children in the name of freedom, individual responsibility, and more benefits for themselves? Can a generation be that selfish?
What they were answering
fitzroy95 · 51 points
We can transfer information faster, but that isn't the same as knowledge.
And most of the challenge of the generational cycle is that when you are growing up you tend to absorb specific attitudes and social influences, and those are (usually) the basis for all of your later life. So in many cases, the decisions you make as an adult are significantly biased by the societal norms you grew up with between 1-10. Usually those attitudes are so automatic and so ingrained that you don't ever reconsider them, since changing them fundamentally changes your attitudes.
Which is why many religions work on the old Jesuit quote of
>"Give me a boy until he is 7, and I will give you the man."
They knew very well that if you are programmed young enough, you will almost never shake off that early conditioning. That's why it takes a complete generation to change, since it requires the new crop of growing children to be conditioned differently and then mature.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb
You cannot deny that knowledge is also transferring faster. Of course it is not at the same rate as information as a whole, but it is traveling faster. I see people's social influences changing at a much faster rate today than I see my parent's generation, or even less my grandparent's generation changing. My grandpa was completely set in his ways, there was nothing you could say to change his mind. My father is in the middle, still stubborn, but willing to see things differently. I, however, am a very open person! This is not because I grew up with someone that was open, no way. My father was a lot like my grandfather when I was growing up. I had access to the internet. As I learned more, I questioned more. As I questioned more, I also rubbed that off on my father. He has told me this now that I am an adult, that I was what challenged him to change. Then when I was 19, I started traveling all over the US for work. I got to meet many people and see many different ways of thinking. Then a couple years later, I started traveling the world. This is when my mind shot open like crazy! I work in telecommunications, connecting people. Without the technology I had growing up, the internet, the telephones, then planes, and even the games, I would not have shifted that mindset that far from my father's. But I did have it, and I have not only drastically shifted my mindset, but also the mindset of my father. My grandfather died when I was 12, so I only got to see him change a little bit. The one thing I can remember (it's very trivial but whatever) is he was set the Bose was the best speakers he could buy. Everyone knows that Bose should be called Blows. Anyway, I talked my grandpa into trying out some other speakers after he already bought his Bose stuff. He immediately took back his Bose gear and bought some Sony ones. It sounds trivial, but as a kid that had never seen my grandpa admit his way was not the best way. It made me feel good that he listened to me enough to at least try them out. Personal stories aside, even though knowledge may not be sticking at the same rate that information as a whole is passing, it is still transferring faster.