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Is hi-tech making us dumber?

The older I get, the more I realise how little I know.

As a 16-year-old I knew it all -- but only because I didn't know just how much there was that I didn't know.

The years have slowly opened my eyes to the scale of my ignorance and of my former arrogance when it came to my own understanding of science, technology and the world around me.

It has to be admitted though (all modesty aside) that as a 16-year-old, I did know a lot of stuff, as did many of my peers in those days.

Partly out of necessity but largely "because we could", teens of that era would do all their own car repairs, often involving a completely stripping the engine of our aging bombs so as to replace bearings, rings and regrinding valves.

We knew every last screw and nut of those engines, thoroughly understanding the theory and practice of their construction, maintenance and operation.

These days, based on my own observations (which may obviously be flawed), it seems that only a very tiny handful of 16-year-olds would be able to strip down recondition and rebuild the engines of their cars -- or even an engine of the era in which I was a teen.

The problem is that modern cars are now just so damned complex that even qualified mechanics are sometimes left scratching their heads or must attend regular training courses to keep up with the latest innovations.

We've been converted from a nation of knowledgeable and skilled home-mechanics to one of "vehicle drivers" who rarely lift the bonnet at all. What a shame.

By the time I was 16 I'd also build a couple of stereos too -- as had several of my friends.

Back then, even a modest "store-bought" stereo cost at least ten weeks of a 16-year-old's hard-earned pay so building your own was the only real alternative -- if you wanted to avoid a nasty beer-deficiency.

As a result of this, quite a few of us understood the subtle nuances of correctly biasing the push-pull output stage of a hi-powered audio amp so as to minimise cross-over distortion and we had systems "to die for" at a price that was a tiny fraction of the nasty, rattly, underpowered, overpriced commercial options.

These days I suspect most kids think that "iPod" is a technical specification and that "bias" is something to do with discrimination.

Again, young people have been turned from clever tech-literate innovators and creators into mere "users" of hi-tech audio equipment.

So where will this trend end?

Are we destined to become a species who are almost entirely reliant on the knowledge known only to a very few?

Is our technology becoming so complex that it's now beyond the ability of "the average bloke" to assimilate and understand - forever relegating them to the role of "dumb user"?

What effect will this have on generations to come?

Will they never get to enjoy the huge feeling of achievement that comes from building bits of technology with your own mind and hands then enjoying the results of that labour?

I still recall the buzz I used to get when a technology project was finished and turned on for the first time (well as often as not the second-time, after the smoke from the first-time had cleared and a few necessary modifications had been made). Does 21st century technology offer our kids the same challenges and rewards -- or do they only need to know how to download an MP3 file?

For example -- why would any kid want to build their own stereo today when it's actually cheaper and easier to get "instant gratification" by just buying a Chinese-made 3-in-1 system that works pretty damned well?

And why would anyone want to try and fix any of this hi-techery when it goes wrong? After all, there's usually no technical documentation available, many of the components are proprietary and there are never any spares available. Even failures under warranty usually consist of total replacement rather than repair.

You know, I feel a little sorry for today's kids who'll probably never know what they've missed.

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