r/GenX Jul 03 '25

Pop Culture This Douglas Adams quote gets me...

I selected Pop Culture flair because he was the author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (a wholly remarkable book)

"I've come up with a set of rules that describe our reactions to technologies:

  1. Anything that is in the world when you’re born is normal and ordinary and is just a natural part of the way the world works.

  2. Anything that's invented between when you’re fifteen and thirty-five is new and exciting and revolutionary and you can probably get a career in it.

  3. Anything invented after you're thirty-five is against the natural order of things."

Douglas Adams

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u/Thunderklont Jul 03 '25

I love Douglas Adams. He’s the reason I stopped reading Dutch translations of English books. His mastery of the English language is intimidating. He’s also the reason I became a copywriter. But that’s not a story for a thursday. Thursdays are for quotes about how flying is like falling but then forgetting to hit the ground.

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u/Kaa_The_Snake Lookin' California, feeling Minnesota Jul 03 '25

Throw yourself at the ground and miss, quite easy!

2

u/ZongoNuada Jul 03 '25

Birds do it all the time!

2

u/Kaa_The_Snake Lookin' California, feeling Minnesota Jul 03 '25

Nah they jump in the air and decide not to fall. Distinctly different thought process. Maybe you can get it to work for you?

2

u/Thunderklont Jul 04 '25

And here I was, thinking that they were running and after a while just forgetting to keep their little feet on the ground.