My dad's friend just died, and not too many people noticed. My only theory as to why is because they didn't appreciate what he was, or were too caught up in pointless things to notice. He was a self taught electronic engineer, who also taught himself medicine. He always knew more than the doctors we went to. I remember him correctly diagnosing a nerve tumor before the doctors had any idea what the problem was. I remember him also telling us what he would do for my dying Grandpa days before the doctors came up with the same ideas. I know that he regularly treated himself, because he couldn't stand doctors (he was mistreated by doctors as a child). He also studied ancient literature, not to be a snob, but because he enjoyed it. The loss of him isn't the loss of the last smart people, but he was one of the last old time smart people.
As a child, I knew several of my dad's friends who were similar. Most of them are dead now. I haven't really met anybody that replaces them. As I think about it, it makes me sad, because people don't remember the way things were. There is a huge disconnect from previous generation, mostly because of a breakdown of family. People my age were raised by their peers, so not too many have a clue about what exists outside of themselves and their generation.
I thank God for giving me the privilege of growing up in a real family where I was able to experience and respect people older than myself. What I've been able to experience is seeing how the generations before me were smart in a different way. It was their attitude about what they did. It is precisely that attitude that made me want to follow in their footsteps, but which I have been unable to find among my generation.
This man was a person who grew up playing with machines and electronics when much of it was new and exciting. I can almost picture him sitting in his room assembling a radio transmitter to communicate with someone in the next state. This doesn't seem like a big deal. Today it certainly isn't the same. Back then it was a bit more exciting and new. That isn't what makes it different though. The part that makes it different is the way in which people like him did these things.
The old generation did these things because they were fun and they enjoyed them. Here is how I think that changed. These people grew up to be the ones doing the interesting and astonishing things. People in the following generations saw them and how society lifted them up for their intelligence, and decided that they wanted to be "one of those people everyone thinks is smart". So these people grew up to do the same types of things, but no longer because it was fun, but because they had something to prove. It became a competition. No longer was it simply about enjoying the work of your hands and mind.
This man who just died did the things he did because it was what he grew up doing and enjoyed. He had friends who grew up doing the same things, and they remained friends for their whole life. People in my generation do the same things in a frenzy in hopes that someone will praise them. They aren't friends to anybody, because they can only think about themselves. All their time is spent being around lots of people, and trying to be better than most of them.
When I get in a group of older engineers, there is a calm and relaxing feeling in the atmosphere. This isn't the most descriptive way to explain what it is like to be around them, but it does highlight the immediate difference I notice compared to people of the same intelligence of my generation. I can just sit, listen to them talk, and gain a feeling of excitement in hearing the minds that dreamed up many of the things we have today. There's a certain stability and friendliness in their personalities and thinking that is absent today.
So even though the world will not end because of his death (it won't end for the loss of any of us, which is a shock to some), I figured I would make mention of him and his type, if simply so I can pay him a little respect that I feel was missing.