[Guest post] Walter Cronkite Lied to Us

I have a decent career, a technical career. Technology is clean work, generally indoor work, and it pays really well in comparison to most other legal ways of earning money. I'm glad I went into technology, even if it was a result of the lies told to me by Walter Cronkite.

You see, every Sunday night my family gathered around the TV at my grandparent's house. Along with Ed Sullivan and Bonanza, we would watch The 20st Century narrated by Cronkite. I'm old enough to remember when they renamed the show to The 21th Century, round about 1967. The episodes were in documentary format with Cronkite explaining all the great things that the future held in store for us. As an impressionable kid, I was soon hooked on the drug that was Cronkite's futuristic optimism. Through Cronkite I learned of the limitless free energy we'd derive from nuclear fission and fusion. On that show I saw a first glimpse of the cars of tomorrow -- personal rocket pods that would fly us around on rainy days when we weren't so inclined to use our personal jet packs. I was intrigued by computers that would soon be able to think for us. Most enticing of all was the bold new frontier of space exploration. Gemini, Apollo, and soon there would be an orbiting station with express commuter service by Space Shuttle. My kids would travel to the stars.

Oh dear! No more Space Shuttle. If you haven't yet, try to watch this video. Take the time to watch the whole thing. If you make it to the end without your eyes tearing up with bitter emotion at least once, you are either a child or you have no soul.

If it wasn't for Cronkite's lies, I would have never been hooked on technology. Given my innate skills that orient toward math and science, I doubt that some other career would have paid off as well. I drank the Kool-Aid that promised a better living through chemistry, and indeed I worked hard for a long, long time to develop and sustain my technical career. I'm still working, learning new skills, competing, struggling to get by in the fast paced rat-race that is a technical career. No rest yet in sight. Without social security and medicare to count on, my paper investments all flattened by the "missing decade" of zero growth, my house after 20 years still valued near its purchase price, my kids punished for their "savings" and unable to qualify for college aid, and thus saddled with a half-million bucks of college costs that will need to be paid for out of what money we get to keep after taxes, you can't blame me for feeling a little cheated by the system. There will be no early retirement for me. Yes, I understand that in life everyone does NOT get a trophy. Trying isn't enough, as The Great Wy so eloquently points out. And even if you do try, and work hard, success is far from guaranteed, especially for boomers like us.

Still, I'm surviving and supporting my family. I still enjoy my work somewhat. We have savings. We don't live paycheck-to-paycheck. Our debt/equity ratio is low. Retirement isn't as close as I'd like, but I'm certain someday I will retire. Goodness knows how tough things would be for me and my family had I not taken up a technical career.

So, I guess I'm not too bitter about being swindled into this gig, even if today's computers are dumber than ever. There are no jet cars, no sustainable supply of cheap energy, and now no space shuttle.

My one last hope is that Robert A Heinlein told me the truth.

Posted at 13:03 by Nadz   [/guest/nadz]   Comments | Perm Link |
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