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I'm not so sure that's true. You also need to account for the fact that as technology get's more universal, more people use it. So the same amount of "core geeks" could be using technology, but the ratio of "core geeks" to ordinary users is decreasing.

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Sure, but I think that's accounted for when you see the absolute number of engineering/cs graduates drop.

Also, I would expect that being immersed in technology would at least stimulate curiosity in how it works, but that doesn't seem to be the case at all.

Admiring nature and animals doesn't lead to my becoming a biologist, nor drinking beer lead to my founding a brewery. You can appreciate something without having to really understand what is going on beneath the surface. We are just predisposed to an interest in technology, is all.

We can't peek under the hood or tinker with things like decades past.

You can't peek the lid of a PC like you could with an Apple ][. There's no pre-installed BASIC to play with. No schematics. Even most cars are now "no user servicable parts inside" when you lift the hood.

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