The post on Tuesday about the 'Jules Verne' highlights the changes in the world we live in.
For most people at the time I was born, the idea of living and working in space was in the realm of fantasy. Yet now, we take for granted the International Space Station (ISS) - NASA site and ESA site - and the people living on it. With the rise of several countries as major technological and economic powers (China and India for example) the discussion about colonising the Moon has begun to seem more realistic.
Here on Earth we have seen huge changes in our lifestyles as the result of technology. These changes have made many skills - that were once seen as vital - obsolete. And a host of new skills have become important too.
Obsolete Skills is a site that hosts an interesting wiki which lists and discusses these. If you look at the site you will probably agree with some, disagree with others and even have some of your own to add. It is a wiki and you are encouraged to join in. It is also rather heavily-biased to computer technology examples at the moment.
Some of my favourites are :
- counting back change (see shillings and pence too)
... as a student I worked in shops and this was expected - using a longbow
... apparently 'Englishmen' are still required to have 2 hours practice a day - sharpening a quill
- dark-room photography development
- using logarithm tables or a slide rule for calculations
- operating a treadle-powered sewing machine
- whistling 2600 Hz (should I really put this here??)
- common sense (not entirely serious)
