What about the Commodore community?

[_The Doctor__]

1984 was a screwed up movie where the TV not only guided you, but watched your every move and listened to every word.

Edited April 23, 2019 by _The Doctor__

[Gunstar]

1984 was a screwed up movie where the TV not only guided you, but watched your every move and listened to every word.

It was a screwed up book first...you mean you never had to read it in high school English class? I think it was a required read for American students in high school, along with Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, etc . Though I don't know if you're from the U.S or not unless I look up/decode your location coordinates!

 

The Irony being that these books were written as a warning to us, yet our current society seems to have ignored it all, forgotten, or are the ones in control leading us to a big-brother society anyway...

Edited April 24, 2019 by Gunstar

[Tillek]

It was a screwed up book first...you mean you never had to read it in high school English class? I think it was a required read for American students in high school, along with Fahrenheit 451, Animal Farm, etc . Though I don't know if you're from the U.S or not unless I look up/decode your location coordinates!

 

The Irony being that these books were written as a warning to us, yet our current society seems to have ignored it all, forgotten, or are the ones in control leading us to a big-brother society anyway...

Actually, I'm American, class of 91 and I never had to read any of those books. I mean, I had to read books, and I was in Honors and later AP English... but those books weren't on the list. We had books like "The Once and Future King", "Lord of the Flies", "The Good Earth" and "Of Mice and Men" just to name a few... but then again, the books you mentioned... yeah, probably more the exception than the rule that I didn't have to read them.

[Gunstar]

Actually, I'm American, class of 91 and I never had to read any of those books. I mean, I had to read books, and I was in Honors and later AP English... but those books weren't on the list. We had books like "The Once and Future King", "Lord of the Flies", "The Good Earth" and "Of Mice and Men" just to name a few... but then again, the books you mentioned... yeah, probably more the exception than the rule that I didn't have to read them.

I guess that's why we are headed the way we are, they stopped requiring such reading. It might even be that it was no longer nationwide by the time I was in high school, class of 86'. It's a real shame. I suggest you read them on your own. The books you mentioned are excellent, and I also read them in high school, college or on my own, I don't recall, but not nearly as important as the lessons the books I listed tell. Though you don't even have to read them, though it's the best way as nothing is cut to fit in a movie, but all three have been made into movies and animated movies (I think Animal Farm is animated, IIRC)

Edited April 24, 2019 by Gunstar

[carlsson]

I suppose the literature canon gets slightly updated for each generation. Generally the idea of a nationwide canon can be challenging as you can only fit so many mandatory reads within a period of school, and many different opinions on which authors and works are the most defining through time.

 

Here is a list of the top 100 American literature titles chosen by teachers across the country (no publication date). Out of those books already mentioned, you've got Of Mice and Men, Fahrenheit 451 and The Good Earth on the list, but unfortunately none of George Orwell's books made the cut.

 

https://www.perfectionlearning.com/top-100-american-literature-titles

 

An article from 1988, which is partly behind a paywall so don't click if you're short of free N.Y. Times news articles:

https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/06/us/education-us-literature-canon-under-siege.html

 

Christina Lee also wrote an article on the subject:

https://classroom.synonym.com/american-literary-canon-6851835.html

[ivop]

Orwell or Huxley?

 

 

 

[bfollowell]

Man, has this thread really gotten off-topic or what?!

[_The Doctor__]

They were both correct imho, each pitfall is being served up or presented to the masses, they choose their own destructor and are guided to it... possibly knowing better and do so anyway.

[zzip]

This.

 

I never got the tribalism. We're all a bunch of nerds who love what we grew up with, there is no 'best' system. Dropping those artificial walls is good for everyone, and in my case, introduced me to several consoles I disliked at one point but love now.

On some level, people are aware that the more people who adopt your favorite system, the more attention the developers would give it, and it would be first to get the cool

games and applications, the flip side was if you bought the less popular system, you got to watch that support dry up, while owners of other systems had all the fun. Atarians

were knew this disappointing feeling too well... So on one level, the fanboyism was to try to influence others to buy your system, not that other "POS" one, to ensure its popularity. Back then

tech was expensive and "why not just buy both?" was not an option for many.

 

Because that's not at stake anymore, most people don't feel the need for Atari vs Commodore tribalism anymore. But it's very much alive and well in new tech.

[almightytodd]

I think MANY home computers helped create our world of computer literacy and usage for many projects but there were also many that offered little or nothing, we had a few Forth based computers for sale at Maplin during the 'Great Computer Overindulgence' and these machinces were non sellers because they were as friendly as a poke in the eye. I think its fairer to say that mostly the economically successful computers shaped stuff in the home market. I started out on a ZX80 (kit) back then and it gave my first steps into computing and I have to say it was most confusing initially, all the things you saw on the box looked great, doing them on the other hand was not as fun as *I* hoped but it kick started the computer learning side, BASIC (which I still don't like) was a good start out because it was almost understandable what these functions did and there was a simple logic for most, something that many other languages confused me with.

 

But the ZX80 made good money and it got many of us off to a fine start home wise, so certain machines set the standards or got top spots because of userbase numbers, not always because they were technically more advanced than the others but this for me was ok as variety inspired creativity in the masses of coders. I respect the users of these other machines I never adopted and the impact many of them have had as machines, to pick a best of is pointless for me, I prefer to use them and spend as little time arguing about their technical spec.

 

 

 

 

This.

 

I never got the tribalism. We're all a bunch of nerds who love what we grew up with, there is no 'best' system. Dropping those artificial walls is good for everyone, and in my case, introduced me to several consoles I disliked at one point but love now.

 

 

 

I keep going back to the concept of the "Atari Age". I don't think this site having that name makes any kind of statement that if it's not Atari, it's CRAP!! Rather, it acknowledges that there was a period of time when Atari represented a new era of technology as a basis of personalized entertainment. If you listen to the various Podcasts where some of the people from that era are interviewed, you find that many of them had a wide variety of big ideas about culture, society, and philosophy.

 

I believe that whatever technology touched your life during these years, that is what you will feel nostalgia for and have an emotional attachment to. The very relevant statement that you had to choose a platform because you could only afford one of them was so true for most of us. A little light-hearted tribalism is okay, but in all seriousness, we should really strive to be welcoming of all enthusiasts of all technology that was relevant during the Atari Age.

 

This site means so much to me (Thank you Albert!), because it provides an escape from the cynicism and strife that seems to permeate other social platforms that are focused on current events. I find that I spend much more time here than on say - Facebook, because there, it seems inevitable that just a few posts in, and I just find it depressing. Talk about tribalism! I'm glad that for the most part, discussions here are more likely to be polite and respectful. Thank you all for your contributions here to our love of retro-technology.

Edited April 26, 2019 by almightytodd