Watershops

This thread is silly. Progress changes everything. Interests wain, things come and go. Cars are on their way out period.
When autonomous vehicles are the norm and IC engines are banned you won't be allowed to drive a manually controlled car on the streets. Wanna drive around? You'll have to go to a "Car Park." Maybe they'll make one out of the abandoned streets of Detroit.
I read this whole thread and think it's one of the most concise I've seen here. Many, many good points have been made. Engineers can be too smart by half. Kids aren't mechanical or even engaged. Pretty much all salient points have been covered as to today's yutes and their shortcomings, but little has been said as to their resiliency. Some can turn wrenches. Some can read a book. Some can think on their feet. Those are the ones who will carry the torch. I know this because one of these youngsters is my son. He has a masters in mechanical engineering, knows his way around a toolbox and could rattle off the gear ratios of a Rock Crusher when he was seven.

verle

My version is "education doesn't guarantee common sense."

I once worked with a very intelligent man with a PHD in nuclear physics and he had no common sense and did not communicate well with anyone.

FLYNAVY30

jim lockwood

Those were the days.

DZAUTO

I'm thinking this was the structural engineer that I worked with when I was the airframe technician for 12yrs on the E4B program. He refused to share information, always kept me in the dark.

JMG2

I'm in my 40s, and fairly mechanically inclined. If something breaks, I'll fix it I'll be around for awhile. My kids already know how to weld, my son has rebuilt a carb, and at 10 drives a standard shift. He has his eye on my c2 and c5. If I still have them when I kick the bucket, I'm sure he'll be able to take care of them.

Plus they also know how to program in three languages, play several musical instruments and are becoming fluent in Mandarin.

I think we'll all be fine. They'll always be someone out there that knows how to do this ****. It's not rocket science.

tuxnharley

I think both perspectives have been well represented in this thread. I have found that there are idiots and aholes both with and without having a degree. I know both educated fools and working class heroes who think they know more than they really do , when in reality they know just enough to be dangerous.

Personally I think the best combination is some real world experience combined with education.

Ron Miller

Pretty well stated, I'd agree . . . . .

FLYNAVY30

Damn! Your kids are already too smart to be engineers…according to this thread….

JMG2

Before going into law I was an engineer. I agree with what's been said in here by a few -- having self-taught skills is great, having a degree is great, but I think one without the other is really limiting.
A paper engineer is just as bad as self-taught without the deeper understanding you get from engineering degree.

mudbone64

Thankfully we've got the interwebs. Purdy much every problem with these cars has been solved or at the very least any person with interest can search this very forum to form a strategy to solve a particular problem. Just as there were fewer and fewer people interested in buggy whips there's going to be fewer and fewer people interested in these cars. In less than 10 years they'll be mighty cheap. If life proceeds in my favor that's when I'll make my next move.

inspectorudy

Imagine the snow debacle in VA a couple of days ago with 100's of all electric vehicles! No one-gallon each to get them off of the road as IC cars would do. Has anyone created a quick charge emergency truck?

SJW

I would expect they would be cleared the same as many of those in the recent debacle on I-95 in VA -- with tow trucks. A lot of those cars had been abandoned where they sat, so it wasn't a simple matter of re-fueling them. Many would not have been able to extract themselves under their own power even if they had fuel and a driver with the keys. But, it's an interesting hypothetical scenario to contemplate.

Live well,

SJW