Value of knowledge is time sensitive???

I got to thinking about how much of the knowledge I have is very time sensitive. Meaning it will not have much or any worth in the not too distance future. Heck I would be a low skilled tech if I started out in a modern JD shop these days. I am way behind the times on the new computer controlled stuff. Then add in the fact that I am losing knowledge to time as well. There are getting to be many things I once did regularly enough to be efficient at doing them and now I have to "read" up on doing them.

An example is I have a JD 4440 that the priority valve was giving me some troubles. I have checked out hundreds of them but none in the last few years. I totally forgot the pressure settings. I had to go dig the manual out an look them up.

I can remember things my Great Grand Father talked about 60 years ago but can't remember your name if it was new in the last hour or so. LOL

I am finding out my relationship with my children is slowly reversing. They used to call me all of the time to asked questions. Now I am calling them more to ASKED them questions. Even worse if it is modern computer/electronic stuff the Grand Daughters are the go to people on that stuff.

I had one of the Grand Daughter's "Smart Phones" to show a fellow where he needed to go on Google maps. The screen saver came on and neither of us "old" guys could get it back to where we where at. LOL I had to get my stupid phone out and call another Grand Daughter an asked her how. LOL

You & I are one in the same tree! I can recite the phonetic alphabet (A - Alpha, B - Bravo, C - Charlie; etc.); but cant remember the name of the new hire at work whos's name was said probably 10 - 15 times on Thursday. I have been trying for 10 minutes! I am only 44, & learned the Alpha lettering at about 11, or 12 years old. Don't use it hardly at all, & still remember it. I find that very strange; but very true.

Well boys you should find comfort in knowing the computer savy guys are unable to figure things out useing two facts to arrive at a third fact if the computor doesn't do it for them. AKA common sense NEVER go's out of style. Now if only I could remember why i removed my glasses and where I laid them down I'd be all set.

Same here: I can still recite "The Ballad of Dan McGrew" that I learned in high school, and the words to a million songs, but just the other day I couldn't recall the name of Neil Armstrong, the first moon walker. It finally came to me a few hours later.

I think the trouble is we're swamped with too much information and/or distractions. Think how much simpler it was 150 years ago when there was no radio, tv or phones, fewer contacts, no cars and a lot of people rarely, if ever, got farther than 10 miles from home.

JDS

From a different angle. From a career in rangeland research.

I've noticed that the new generation of graduates largely don't know how to find out what has already been researched and published. If it is pre-cd it doesn't exist. I wonder how Einstein maintains his status!

And thus I'm in my likely (age inflicted) last round of yet another go at one of those "pro-enviromental-actually-anti-ennvironmental" run-ins like your "spotted owl" job

Just think of all the knowledge that is being lost. Because no one wants to learn the old ways. I was in a local shop dropping off a truck. When the service manager ask me if I knew how to put points in.Took me a minute to realize he was serious.So I showed them how to do a tune up the old way. They will probably never do it again. But at least they now have the idea.

Einstein won't last. I just read where, as we get farther removed from the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan, more and more people say it was the wrong thing to do. I call that ignorance. Forget politics. When you're fighting for your life, you use all the tools available. I wonder which of their forebearers they would have wanted sacrificed attempting the alternative?

We only remember things that are relevant to us. As we age our minds are so full of memories form past experiences , there is little space for new material. When we are young , like a sponge , we soak things up easy , and seem to learn fast. Every thing is new , and we have nothing from our past to compare with. As we mature , we tend to meet new things , and compare them to past experiences , and try to understand what this new thing is. For those of us 40 plus , few will have had any past experiences with electronics , unless you were trained in radio or tv , etc. But give us some thing physical to work on , like take a carb. apart , or use hand tools, and we can shine . This is simply because these are things we have seen or done before. Ever watch some one try to drive nails , that has never done any construction work before , it is painful to see. Knowledge and skill are all learned , instinct and intuition , I believe come from experiences . Just how I view things, but I am only 55 , and still have a lot to learn . Bruce

I'm finding that I can't for the life of me remember simple things that I've known all my life & my wife gets kinda upset at me for calling something" what ya may call it" instead of what it is. My mind just refuses to recall what the proper name is. I'll think of it in a few minutes. It is pretty scary sometimes. Keith

Bob

Are you up to speed with medieval warfare? The basic castle design was the outer walls with the keep (aka round tower) inside. And if the outer was breached that is where you retreated to. And made use of the sally port.

Unfortunately rangelands here has Hhad to retreated to the keep and won't withstand any more compromises imo

The need for that old knowledge will come back around,just like the need for good 2 cylinder mechanics. Try to find one of those now. Pretty few and far between.
The day is coming that it'll be had to find anybody who can diagnose a problem without just plugging something in to a computer.

Heck, I had a service manager at a GM dealership actually tell me 10 years ago that he "could not fix a problem that the computer does not diagnose." And for that I pay him $50.00/ hour? I finally took the car to an independent garage and he had it repaired in 1 hour.

Young guy moves in next door; he's just back from Afghanistan where he was a civilian contractor flying drones for the military. Unfortunately, he had never learned how to take care of a house and property. I tried to teach him how to trim his own plants; he got frustrated and stopped working before he was half done. If something broke, he had no idea how to fix it.

All of his technical knowledge didn't help him when it came to doing everyday practical things. He went back to Afghanistan a month ago and the house is up for sale. Taking care of that house was just too much for him.

The square baler guru was here two days ago. He's 80 now. Every year I worry about somehing happening and him being gone. I don't have enough trouble with it to remember how to make it hum, but I need to have it hum through about 4000 bales a year. It's been years since I did anything but twine for it, so he just looked it over for me and told me what he thought was in need. I can do it, I just don't have the depth of knowledge. When that man is gone there will not be anyone in the county that can work on one competently. Literally.

One of my nephew's friends is working for the BTO where they live and doing very well. They have put him in charge of the farm at age 20. That boy couldn't operate a tractor from the 1970's and figure out how to plant or what might be wrong with it if it quit. He's just fine in something with autosteer that has a warranty. Thus is the way of the world, I guess. I don't have to worry about some whipper snapper wanting to steal the 8430 I guess. The days of "he's good wih his hands and can fix anything" aren't as revered as they used to be.

da.bees said it perfectly, "Common sense never goes out of style"
I have a t-shirt that says "Common sense is so rare these days it should be considered a super power"
As far as remembering names go, what I always tell people is;
If you have ticked me off or owe me money I will remember your first and last name from the first time I hear it, so if I don't remember your name take it as a compliment.

Keeping up with the computer stuff would not have been that hard IF one had embraced it from the beginning. As it started out, computers were a lot simpler. In many ways simpler to use, simpler to understand. They incrementally got stronger, more useful, and more complicated to use. But, if you stayed with it, it was not too hard to keep up with. After a while, we become slaves to technology. Still, somebody has to do the manual work to set up machines to produce the goods that we buy and use every day. When the last of those people retires out of the work force, then the trouble will start. There will be fewer and fewer new goods to be obtained. Then, we will by necessity return to some of the older ways - if only to get things restarted.
Regardless, we will ALWAYS need folks that can fix things and work with their hands. Somebody has to do it or it simply will not get done!!

Sage grouse?

Jim I started out using and working with computers in the early 1990s. The trouble is for me to really work on things I am used to understanding how they work from the ground up. There is no way you can have that knowledge on the new computer controlled stuff. The technology involves has taken centuries of man hours to develop. The fellows working on the new stuff know how to use the computer to look for problems but if it is not a common problem then there is not a solution in the data base.

An example. The older JD 8330 (2006 model) we have. This is one of the last new tractors I ever sold. We bought it from the original owner four years ago. From day one this tractor MAY not shift out of park some times. You can pull up to dump a wagon and get back in an it may not move. While it was under warranty every single thing to do with the park/transmission circuit was replaced. It still did it. We even hauled it out to the Waterloo factory DTAC center and they "fixed" the problem. NOT!!!! LOL it still did it. About once every 100 hours or so. The cure to make it move again??? Just remove the battery cable and make the system reboot. Should be simple then should it not. The harness, PCM, ECM, and solenoids have all been replaced more than once. Our solution?? We just put a master battery disconnect switch on it. So all you have to do is switch it off for five seconds and let it reboot. So how do you "FIX" some thing like this????

When it comes to equipment and technology, it will always evolve to something different . It seems like we get left behind as we get older. I think of my grandparents. They were born shortly after the civil war and a couple of them lived long enough to see man walk on the moon. When I was born, jet aircraft was just past the experimental stage. I lived long enough to see the things that were science fiction turn into reality. I'll never be able to keep up.
There are some things that we can still contribute to the younger generation. The appreciation for the work that got us here, work ethic. The need for being conservative with their money and saving first and spend later. Economics is consistent, it will always pay off in the long run to live within your means. That lesson may be driven in hard to the young people today but I believe they will overcome their challenges just like we have.
There are some things I miss about some of the years past but I wouldn't want to go back.