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As someone born in 1995, I don't have any real emotional connection to the Challenger explosion. It's pretty bizarre to think that children born after the 9/11

As someone born in 1995, I don't have any real emotional connection to the Challenger explosion. It's pretty bizarre to think that children born after the 9/11 attacks will probably feel the same indifference.

mturmon 11y ago
If you are an engineer, it would be good to try to learn from this and similar accidents. I.e., noting your lack of emotional connection is beside the point, the question is, what can you take away from what happened?
- samwiseg 11y ago
  Of course, it's extremely important. I'm currently listening to the Freakonomics podcast on the Challenger explosion[0]. I was only noting the difference being born a few years apart can make when it comes to significant shared cultural memories. [0]http://freakonomics.com/2015/05/20/failure-is-your-friend-a-freakonomics-radio-rebroadcast/ http://freakonomics.com/2015/05/20/failure-is-your-friend-a-...
  - btilly 11y ago
    You will notice this sort of thing more and more as time goes on. For me the "ah hah" moment was when it hit me that "Where were you when you heard about Challenger?" was my generation's version of, "Where were you when JFK was assassinated?" Another easily observed one is music. Very few people are aware of much that happened in popular music after they hit 25.
    - gradi3nt 11y ago
      I'm turning 25 in two weeks. So this is it? 2015 was my last year of music? Damn...it went by so fast!
      - vlehto 11y ago
        Quick, hurry. You can listen through 65 years of pop music made so far. Then, if you live 80 years, you only lose about 45,8% of all pop-music you could have heard during your lifetime. That's not half bad. If you include some blues, jazz and classical, that percentage goes down significantly. Regards, 29 year old with 4 year long amnesia about music.
callmeed 11y ago
I think every generation has their big events and I think they overlap. For baby boomers, it's the JFK assassination (maybe other things). For Gen X'ers like me, it's the Challenger (and 9/11 I'd argue). For Millennials, it's 9/11.
thaumasiotes 11y ago
As someone born well before the 9/11 attacks -- were there any positive consequences to the emotional attachment they provoked in the public? Indifference would obviously have been the correct response. What actually happened was not dissimilar to stabbing yourself in the face because you think a mosquito might have landed on it.

mturmon 11y ago

If you are an engineer, it would be good to try to learn from this and similar accidents. I.e., noting your lack of emotional connection is beside the point, the question is, what can you take away from what happened?

samwiseg 11y ago
Of course, it's extremely important. I'm currently listening to the Freakonomics podcast on the Challenger explosion[0]. I was only noting the difference being born a few years apart can make when it comes to significant shared cultural memories. [0]http://freakonomics.com/2015/05/20/failure-is-your-friend-a-freakonomics-radio-rebroadcast/ http://freakonomics.com/2015/05/20/failure-is-your-friend-a-...
- btilly 11y ago
  You will notice this sort of thing more and more as time goes on. For me the "ah hah" moment was when it hit me that "Where were you when you heard about Challenger?" was my generation's version of, "Where were you when JFK was assassinated?" Another easily observed one is music. Very few people are aware of much that happened in popular music after they hit 25.
  - gradi3nt 11y ago
    I'm turning 25 in two weeks. So this is it? 2015 was my last year of music? Damn...it went by so fast!
    - vlehto 11y ago
      Quick, hurry. You can listen through 65 years of pop music made so far. Then, if you live 80 years, you only lose about 45,8% of all pop-music you could have heard during your lifetime. That's not half bad. If you include some blues, jazz and classical, that percentage goes down significantly. Regards, 29 year old with 4 year long amnesia about music.

callmeed 11y ago

I think every generation has their big events and I think they overlap. For baby boomers, it's the JFK assassination (maybe other things). For Gen X'ers like me, it's the Challenger (and 9/11 I'd argue). For Millennials, it's 9/11.

thaumasiotes 11y ago

As someone born well before the 9/11 attacks -- were there any positive consequences to the emotional attachment they provoked in the public? Indifference would obviously have been the correct response. What actually happened was not dissimilar to stabbing yourself in the face because you think a mosquito might have landed on it.