Future Shock: did anyone experience like this?

Hello!


In 1999, I studies Astrophysics until the eq. to an associate's degree. I did not do any further studies until I returned to Open Uni in 2009. I started with business studies and math. All was perfect... But in the end-2010s, something strange happened to me.

I took a course in Astrophysics. And it was completely strange.

When I left in 1999, things like the accelerated expansion of the universe were known, but not widely accepted. When I restarted studying, it was. The principles like Kepler's law stayed, of course, the same but there were a LOT of further developments I was not even aware of in the approx. 15...20 years I did not update my knowledge. It was, basically, like I had to start from scratch.

Did anyone experience something similar when he re-studied something he already studied in the past?


Best regards,
Mac Juli

 

Funny you should mention. I just threw out DOS and Windows 3.1 certs I received in 1992. I also took a networking and hardware program in 1995-6 - most of the 17 courses are hopelessly outdated now. The hardware and software we used are fit for the museum. And I'm sure some things would have advanced greatly in Psych, since my courses in the 1980s.

In many things computer-related, a considerable part of the knowledge you gain from a program may be outdated by the time you graduate. All the sciences are about improving knowledge. It's (usually) a healthy sign when things have progressed so much you have to readjust. Brian May - guitarist in the legendary group Queen - went back and finished his Doctorate in Astrophysics after a hiatus of more than 30 years. Imagine how he must have felt!

...I'm sure if I went back to Latin class after a 60-year absence - there'd be nothing new!

Nil sub sole novum...

 

Depends...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contemporary_Latin. Interesting article. Even the University of Antarctica is mentioned!

 

I was a biological science major back in the 1970's. Specialized in microbiology pretty much. Back then the differences between bacteria and archaea were just starting to be appreciated. Nobody was quite sure what to do with the fungi. The whole genomic revolution hadn't hit yet. Today many kinds of bacteria have been sequenced and things like lateral gene transfer have risen to the forefront. A big emphasis today is on the molecular genetics of how gene expression is controlled. Nobody knew very much about that back in the 1970's.

 

Wonderful! Particularly the ATM in the Vatican! I'm glad to see the basic state of the language relatively unchanged, though. I read the sign welcoming Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko to the University of Salamanca. A masterpiece - It looks like it was made 2,000 years ago. I'm sure Julius Caesar would have read it easily. He might have been surprised to read the names Akihito and Michiko, though. He'd probably think they were from Gallic tribes he'd forgotten to conquer.

Vivat Latinitas viva! - Long live modern (living) Latin! Thanks, Mac. You made my day!

 

...

 

Gaudeo!!

 

"Gaudeamus igitur, iuvenes dum sumus...
Post iocundum iuventutem, post molestam senectutem
Nos habebit humus."

Let's rejoice therefore, while we are young...
After a joyful youth and a troublesome old age -
The earth will have us.

It's an old hit - maybe 13th century, but as a youngster I heard Mario Lanza and his buds at Heidelberg U. sing it in the movie version of "The Student Prince." (Mario's voice dubbed in over Edmund Purdom's acting.) That was in 1955 - I was 12. Just started Latin. I never forgot the song.

 

Or maybe it is. I believe back then it was a planet. Now, it's a ... thing.

 

For people in HIgh Tech it's constant, always needs to remain current, or become obsolete.
I remember working for a company leading in the end to end solutions for businesses etc. Some products I was a part of the engineering team that developed and tested so I was an expert on the range of releases of this enterprise hybrid solution. As I was promoted to Practice manager in the World Wide Engineering unit, I started dealing with proposals, managing people, and only for one year.
When I attended a company university for the next version of the product training, I was shocked. I went from Hero to Zero.
The Instructor said if you know the solution till X>X release please leave anything you know about it at the door.
And so it was, a completely redesigned product that utilized a range of new technologies.

On the academic side, I also experienced similar, again classes I took at the graduate level indirectly made me go and learn in addition to underlining fundamental material because some portions of
the classes were based on principles, phenomena, and behavior that are only experienced with the new generation of technologies.
I never studied Astrophysics as a single subject, it was covered to a degree in other classes.