The impact of COVID measures on intergenerational fairness.

[takno]

And as for technology, what about the World Wide Web, invented by Sir Tim Berners - Lee who is a "boomer" by virtue of having been born in 1955? He could have made billions for himself by charging royalties for use of his patent, but instead he gave it as a free gift to the rest of the world. The internet has given today's young people opportunities for education and work that simply could not have been dreamed of 30 years ago.

HTML and HTTP were absolute garbage. The only to reason they achieved widespread adoption is because they were free while competitor products charged a license fee. The internet is littered with suboptimal or outright terrible choices made because boomers started a long tradition of being too cheap to pay for quality.

 

[RT4038]

The boomers benefited from technology developed by their parents.

Why does this sharing stop immediately when it no longer benefits said boomers?

I am unsure how the benefits of technology can be stopped from 'sharing' when it no longer benefits said boomers? Younger generations have very much benefitted from the technology developed by the boomers. As, of course, the boomers did from the generations that went before.

I don't deny that today's young people face many challenges. But they are different to the challenges faced by previous generations. There is no generation in recent history that has had any easy ride.

The world has completely changed since the boomers started out in life. I challenge the myth that boomers have had it better, taking everything into account, than the younger generation will have had when they get the boomers age now. However, it is really subjective, depending on how much importance an individual places on each component.

HTML and HTTP were absolute garbage. The only to reason they achieved widespread adoption is because they were free while competitor products charged a license fee. The internet is littered with suboptimal or outright terrible choices made because boomers started a long tradition of being too cheap to pay for quality.

We don't have the luxury of hindsight on the results of suboptimal or outright terrible choices of your generation yet. But when it becomes available, expect an almighty kicking.

 

[duncanp]

HTML and HTTP were absolute garbage. The only to reason they achieved widespread adoption is because they were free while competitor products charged a license fee. The internet is littered with suboptimal or outright terrible choices made because boomers started a long tradition of being too cheap to pay for quality.

If HTML and HTTP were that much garbage then they would not have so widely adopted, regardless of the fact that they were free. And advances in technology since the early days of the internet have made it more accessible to more people. (eg superfast broadband instead of dial up, mobile internet devices etc.)

 

[takno]

If HTML and HTTP were that much garbage then they would not have so widely adopted, regardless of the fact that they were free. And advances in technology since the early days of the internet have made it more accessible to more people. (eg superfast broadband instead of dial up, mobile internet devices etc.)

Resisting the urge to respond to that with "okay, boomer". The fact that the internet isn't literally all bad isn't really an argument against the fact that some of the core foundation stones are absolutely rotten. This is wildly off-topic though so we should probably leave it there