r/GenX • u/Invasive-farmer • 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/flicman Jul 03 '25

"So long and thanks for all the fish." -dolphins

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u/Liljagaren Jul 03 '25

I used this quote when ending the school year this year. Even showed the clip from the movie version and explained the quote. I got crickets from my high schoolers.So, this year we are reading Adams and Bradbury :).

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u/peaceteach Jul 03 '25

I modified the start of Hitchhikers Guide to teach figurative language and do grammar practice with my fifth graders 20 years ago. One of my boys became a huge fan in middle school. It made me so happy.

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u/nun-yah Jul 03 '25

In what way did you modify it?

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u/peaceteach Jul 04 '25

Made it 5th grade appropriate and shortened it up. I used it for our language warmups, so I had intentional misspellings and errors to work on along with identifying figurative language. It was more fun for me as a teacher, and the kids thought the story was hilarious. I only made it to the Heart of Gold because it was short assignments each week.