Technology. Digital Communications. They are not new. They are not news. They are old news. But thats not what is interesting about these articles. What is interesting to me is not that articles are written showing surprise that the geriatric generation and their kids are going online , despite the protests of their grandkids. What is interesting to me is how few in the media, regardless of platform, be it TV, Newspaper, magazine , blogger or twitterer, have more than a rudimentary knowledge of the history of the technologies we are using.

Mark Cuban has summed it up pretty succinctly. We should not be surprised when we hear about baby boomers using technology. The personal computer is over 30 years old. It was here long before Myspace, Facebook, even Google. Isaac Newton said it best, “If I have seen further it is by standing on ye shoulders of Giants.” Just as the automotive industry builds on Henry Ford’s ideas of the assembly line, our current technologies build on the work of Darpa, Vint Cerf, and Tim Berners-Lee.

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” – George Santayana