The NSA, and the loyalty of future generations

[DGuller]

This is just a modernized re-write of that screed by Socrates, isn't it?

I guess it shouldn't surprise anyone that the "kids these days" essay remains so popular.

Well the central point of his argument is true, at least in Spain. My parents worked all their lives for the same company. None of the people in my generation will be able to say that. We're in our thirties and have already switched employers (usually several times).

g also has a tendency to naysay anything that tries to generalize generational behavior.

People of his age tend to be like that.

[Razgovory]

Well the central point of his argument is true, at least in Spain. My parents worked all their lives for the same company. None of the people in my generation will be able to say that. We're in our thirties and have already switched employers (usually several times).

His conclusions may hold true for Spain, then.  In the US, the idea of employment for life went out when the depression started.  My great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and myself have all had multiple employers.

I thought they worked for the government.  Wait, were your parents spies for the Russians?

[merithyn]

g also has a tendency to naysay anything that tries to generalize generationalgroup behavior without any real evidence.

FYP.  I also tend to naysay generalizations about behavior that are based on "race," sex, hair color, and star sign.

My star sign tells me exactly who I am! We Sagitarians understand each other because we are exactly alike!

[Malthus]

The children of tomorrow will be the NSA`s biggest wet dream, not nightmare. Their entire lives logged and archived from childhood. Wonderful.

From a spy agency's perspective, the problem is that pretty well anyone can look into those logs and achives. What's the use of being a spy if stuff just isn't secret? 

[Jacob]

I think there are some real organizational challenges for the alphabet soup guys having gone as "flexible" and contractor dependant as they apparently have. There are also a whole new set of challenges in the new "information environment" that comes with social networks, the internet, evolving expectations of privacy, the ubiquity of data and data-mining and so forth. Certainly, your Snowden or Manning type leaks and problems seem inevitable (especially in retrospect, natch).

I'm less fond of the penchant for analyzing these challenges in terms of letter prefixed generations and their perceived intrinsic qualities. I think that tends to obscure the real and interesting issues.

[Eddie Teach]

g also has a tendency to naysay anything that tries to generalize generationalgroup behavior without any real evidence.

FYP.  I also tend to naysay generalizations about behavior that are based on "race," sex, hair color, and star sign.

Spoken like a Scorpio.

[garbon]

g also has a tendency to naysay anything that tries to generalize generationalgroup behavior without any real evidence.

FYP.  I also tend to naysay generalizations about behavior that are based on "race," sex, hair color, and star sign.

Spoken like a Scorpio.

I'm a Scorpio!

[DGuller]

Generation Z?  Where do we go from here? 

[garbon]

Generation Z?  Where do we go from here? 

We can follow the layout in Excel.

[Eddie Teach]

Generation Z?  Where do we go from here? 

If we're using a base 36 numbering system, the next one will be generation 10.

[DGuller]

Generation Z?  Where do we go from here? 

We can follow the layout in Excel.

Generation AA?

[garbon]

Generation Z?  Where do we go from here? 

We can follow the layout in Excel.

Generation AA?

[Neil]

g also has a tendency to naysay anything that tries to generalize generationalgroup behavior without any real evidence.

FYP.  I also tend to naysay generalizations about behavior that are based on "race," sex, hair color, and star sign.

My star sign tells me exactly who I am! We Sagitarians understand each other because we are exactly alike!

...

I'm also a Sagittarius.  That's a flexible sign.

[derspiess]

His conclusions may hold true for Spain, then.  In the US, the idea of employment for life went out when the depression started.  My great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and myself have all had multiple employers.

Depends on where you worked, though.  My dad was the typical old-school Company Man-- worked for the same company in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and early 90s.  Then things caught up-- his employer offered him an 'early' retirement package which he accepted, and then proceeded to work for a competitor until he decided to fully retire on his own terms.

My current company (or at least my division/site) has a lot of people who have worked here for 30+ years.  It was a cocoon of sorts in the modern age of employment and in some respects has remained so, even through a couple different mergers & acquisitions.  The lady who runs our division started working here when she started college, continued on thereafter through her masters degree and then law degree, and was the last CEO we had before we got acquired.

Small to medium-sized banks have also been holdouts-- a few of them that are clients of mine still offer pensions and have employees that have been there for decades, doing pretty much the same thing every day 

[crazy canuck]

Well the central point of his argument is true, at least in Spain. My parents worked all their lives for the same company. None of the people in my generation will be able to say that. We're in our thirties and have already switched employers (usually several times).

His conclusions may hold true for Spain, then.  In the US, the idea of employment for life went out when the depression started.  My great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, and myself have all had multiple employers.

Look who is generalizing to the whole of the United States from the limited experiences of his own family.