With that said...
Sep. 29th, 2007 02:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
conulyI routinely (well, when I'm in the habit of watching TV) see ads from the Plastic Counsel (or whomever) talking about how "plastics make it possible" in reference to saving peoples lives via bulletproof vests, inhalers, blood transfusions, and, of course, saran wrap. (They don't mention duct tape, oddly.)
Which leads me to this question: What is plastic actually required for? What could substitute for plastic in various items that tend to be made of plastic around here? They don't have to be crucial things - if you want to go back to wooden dice, that's terrific! They just have to be things that are commonly made of plastic, and don't have to be.
Because I honestly was surprised for a while to realize that this or that thing could be made of something, well... non-plastic. A lot of games, really.
In a not-at-all-related note, I often hear people pontificating about what "children need to know" in "today's world", usually in the context of teaching children something wildly inappropriate before they're developmentally ready (just because I could read at 3 doesn't mean most children should be reading before they even enter the first grade. Trust me, by 10, you really can't tell). I always feel like pointing out that their kids won't be living in today's world, they'll be living in the world of the future, but this alternately depresses and amuses me.
So, if you don't want to answer question A, answer question B: What skills will kids of today actually need when they're adults?
Which leads me to this question: What is plastic actually required for? What could substitute for plastic in various items that tend to be made of plastic around here? They don't have to be crucial things - if you want to go back to wooden dice, that's terrific! They just have to be things that are commonly made of plastic, and don't have to be.
Because I honestly was surprised for a while to realize that this or that thing could be made of something, well... non-plastic. A lot of games, really.
In a not-at-all-related note, I often hear people pontificating about what "children need to know" in "today's world", usually in the context of teaching children something wildly inappropriate before they're developmentally ready (just because I could read at 3 doesn't mean most children should be reading before they even enter the first grade. Trust me, by 10, you really can't tell). I always feel like pointing out that their kids won't be living in today's world, they'll be living in the world of the future, but this alternately depresses and amuses me.
So, if you don't want to answer question A, answer question B: What skills will kids of today actually need when they're adults?
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no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 07:40 am (UTC)LCD screens? A lot of electronics casings and whatnot COULD be made of metal but they'd get very heavy, very fast- same's true for a lot of lightweight stuff, actually.
Lightweight=wood.
Date: 2007-09-29 05:17 pm (UTC)A lot of stuff could better be made of glass (beverage bottles) or wood (handles to just about everything) or metal (hairpins/combs/clasps) than the everbedamned plastic.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 07:42 am (UTC)B: the art of strip-mining landfills, in order to recover squandered plastic for making environmental suits and heart-valve replacements to replace their infected ones after their immune systems have been ravaged by environmental toxins...
Boy, I sure can paint a rosy li'l picture, now can't I?
:-p
no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 06:52 pm (UTC)herodictator to rise!no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 08:48 am (UTC)Do-it-yourself skills of all kinds: how to make and build things, how to fix things - any and all skills that enable one to 'do for' oneself rather than being forced to rely on (and pay for) someone else's services. This includes hobby-skills, art, music - because it may not be possible for most people to afford 'outside' entertainment any longer. It also includes self-defense skills and firearm training.
How to manage money frugally, keep track of it accurately, and get the best value for one's pennies. This is practically a Lost Art these days; hardly anyone can even say how much they're actually spending and what they spend it on from one week to the next. Obviously, it requires both decent math skills and the ability to delay gratification.
Natural care and maintenance of the human body, since even now, 'professional' health care is exorbitantly expensive and increasingly unreliable.
... one might note a common theme in all this: the skills I think will be most valuable in the World of Tomorrow are the same skills that were most during both the 'pioneer days' and the Depression. People in those times had to accept the fact that most of the goods and services they'd formerly taken for granted were no longer obtainable, and find ways to either provide them for themselves or get along without them.
The current American lifestyle is not sustainable, being based on abundant availability of a finite and dwindling resource. And Americans know this, but have been so (deliberately) conditioned to have a "Buy Now - Pay Later" mindset and to rely on Authority to look after their interests, that they're not going to wake up and realize that they are So Screwed until it's too late.
Therefore, I think it's kind of moot to worry about the kids having good computer skills when they might not even have electricity to heat and light their homes, let alone to power their various recreational electronic devices. Surely it's nice for them to learn tech-skills, but such skills are not essential for survival.
My own kid just became a legal adult last month. Her chosen career-field is marine electronics, which ought to earn her a very good living as long as there are people able and willing to buy the fanciest, most up-to-date boats available but not able or willing to learn how those boats actually work. And in the likely event of another World War, electronics engineering skills will make her more valuable than the average conscript, so she may be slightly safer and better treated. However, she also has a pretty good set of wilderness, small-farm and natural-healer skills, which I think will stand her in good stead if (when) times get really hard in this country.
"If your children don't surpass you, it means your lineage is declining."
~Jessadriel Darkmountain
no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 02:44 am (UTC)Side note: With all the bedbugs and dental emergencies, we have not yet gotten 'dul to the doctor(!) which, seeing your comment totally reminded me of. I shall call tomorrow...
no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 09:06 am (UTC)OH I KNOW ANOTHER ONE!!
Electical socket covers/inserts thingies. Do you really want to make those out of metal? ;)
There are more materials in the world than plastic and metal
Date: 2007-09-29 01:17 pm (UTC)Why not leather, though? Or wood? Or pressed felt? Or something like that?
Re: There are more materials in the world than plastic and metal
Date: 2007-09-29 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 07:40 am (UTC)LCD screens? A lot of electronics casings and whatnot COULD be made of metal but they'd get very heavy, very fast- same's true for a lot of lightweight stuff, actually.
Lightweight=wood.
Date: 2007-09-29 05:17 pm (UTC)A lot of stuff could better be made of glass (beverage bottles) or wood (handles to just about everything) or metal (hairpins/combs/clasps) than the everbedamned plastic.
no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 07:42 am (UTC)B: the art of strip-mining landfills, in order to recover squandered plastic for making environmental suits and heart-valve replacements to replace their infected ones after their immune systems have been ravaged by environmental toxins...
Boy, I sure can paint a rosy li'l picture, now can't I?
:-p
no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 06:52 pm (UTC)herodictator to rise!no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 08:48 am (UTC)Do-it-yourself skills of all kinds: how to make and build things, how to fix things - any and all skills that enable one to 'do for' oneself rather than being forced to rely on (and pay for) someone else's services. This includes hobby-skills, art, music - because it may not be possible for most people to afford 'outside' entertainment any longer. It also includes self-defense skills and firearm training.
How to manage money frugally, keep track of it accurately, and get the best value for one's pennies. This is practically a Lost Art these days; hardly anyone can even say how much they're actually spending and what they spend it on from one week to the next. Obviously, it requires both decent math skills and the ability to delay gratification.
Natural care and maintenance of the human body, since even now, 'professional' health care is exorbitantly expensive and increasingly unreliable.
... one might note a common theme in all this: the skills I think will be most valuable in the World of Tomorrow are the same skills that were most during both the 'pioneer days' and the Depression. People in those times had to accept the fact that most of the goods and services they'd formerly taken for granted were no longer obtainable, and find ways to either provide them for themselves or get along without them.
The current American lifestyle is not sustainable, being based on abundant availability of a finite and dwindling resource. And Americans know this, but have been so (deliberately) conditioned to have a "Buy Now - Pay Later" mindset and to rely on Authority to look after their interests, that they're not going to wake up and realize that they are So Screwed until it's too late.
Therefore, I think it's kind of moot to worry about the kids having good computer skills when they might not even have electricity to heat and light their homes, let alone to power their various recreational electronic devices. Surely it's nice for them to learn tech-skills, but such skills are not essential for survival.
My own kid just became a legal adult last month. Her chosen career-field is marine electronics, which ought to earn her a very good living as long as there are people able and willing to buy the fanciest, most up-to-date boats available but not able or willing to learn how those boats actually work. And in the likely event of another World War, electronics engineering skills will make her more valuable than the average conscript, so she may be slightly safer and better treated. However, she also has a pretty good set of wilderness, small-farm and natural-healer skills, which I think will stand her in good stead if (when) times get really hard in this country.
"If your children don't surpass you, it means your lineage is declining."
~Jessadriel Darkmountain
no subject
Date: 2007-09-30 02:44 am (UTC)Side note: With all the bedbugs and dental emergencies, we have not yet gotten 'dul to the doctor(!) which, seeing your comment totally reminded me of. I shall call tomorrow...
no subject
Date: 2007-09-29 09:06 am (UTC)OH I KNOW ANOTHER ONE!!
Electical socket covers/inserts thingies. Do you really want to make those out of metal? ;)
There are more materials in the world than plastic and metal
Date: 2007-09-29 01:17 pm (UTC)Why not leather, though? Or wood? Or pressed felt? Or something like that?
Re: There are more materials in the world than plastic and metal
Date: 2007-09-29 05:21 pm (UTC)