At what point did we decide that learning by mistakes was not the way to grow up? I was born in the late 19660’s, my childhood was the 70’ through the mid 1980’s. I look back at what I did, the toys we had and the things I failed at that taught me lessons.
This reflection came about as I saw a YouTube video on a toy I had when I was a child. It was called the Cox EZ-Flyer.
It was this plastic plan but had an actual motor on it.
If you look closely, you can see there was a spring near the propeller. To start this engine, you needed to put the spring on the propeller and snap it quickly. The spring would snap back and spring the propeller fast enough to start the engine. Often you would get a ton of cuts on your hand, trying to get it started. I wondered what happened to the company. Like a lot of successful companies, it was a victim of both time changing, legal issues and the desire to make a profit. The only thing I want to look at is the legal part.
The parks I too my kids to when they were growing up had some kind of rubber on the ground, slides that were plastic and not too steep, and just designed with safety in mind. Nothing like the crazy jungle gyms I had. As a parent, I looked at it; it was a safe place to bring my kids. The change was made as town, schools and parks would get sued if someone got hurt. I remember getting scrapes and bruises, but we did not think to sue the playground’s owner; we figured out how not to get hurt. If the sun was shining on a metal slide, you were not going to go down it, as you got burnt before.
This is something that brough down Cox, as they had to put warning lables on the outside of the toy. It was not just Cox, but other companies had to remind people that there was a risk. I do not want to downplay any serious injury or death that could happen, and cases where there is true negligence, but shine the light that this inflection point had a drastic change on products, marketing and the push to non-physical, non-experimental outlets.
I took apart AFX/Aurora cars and got mini-shocks trying to get them to go faster. I got small burns from Spinwelder. I had a chemistry set that I am sure I did some damage, as well as an electronic building kit that I am sure was hours of fun, but also frustration. And yes, I was lucky to have the drag racing toy from Spinwelder shown below.
While these things had some element of injury, there was something to be able to play with them and learn and experiment. My curiosity grew out of this. And while you think this post is about nostalgia, it is not.
In December of 2022, when Chat GPT was having its viral moment, I decided to dig deeper. I took the Harvard classes online to learn how neural networks were created; I started experimenting with what AI could do with software coding. I made a ton of mistakes along the way, failing to get it to do what I wanted. My constant thought was not there is a problem, but more how do I get it to do what I want. What do I need to learn, as what can the tools do to get better?
I spoke previously about skills versus talent, and sometimes you need to pick up a skill. Learning how to navigate a jungle gym so it does not pull out of the ground when climbing is the same as learning how to prompt AI. We keep wanting AI to be safe, and AI to be consistent with answers just as parents wanted toys that were safer. They wanted the playgrounds to have less risk. The guardrails companies add to their AI models do limit it, but understanding they are a probabilistic engine means that at some point they may go off the rails. I am going to continue to play, find out what works, and what does not work. Just like my AFX Cars, my Spinwelder and my other toys, it is our imagination and our curiosity that allows us to learn and grow.
I know that I should continue to rant about how childhoods were ruined, but I do think that the lesson here is not that, but understanding the boundaries that are there, and driving curiostiy within those boundaries. No, I did not get a Cox EZ Flyer for my kids, but I did find other ways for them to build curiosity and resolve. I also pushed them to be outside and active when they were young, and they were fortunate that social media and chatbots were not around in their early teen years. I still would have pushed them to be outside playing with the neighbors, learning through free play, unstructured time, and getting them to find curiosity.
As I look back, my childhood has plenty of difficulties, and I failed many times to get things to work. But it is persistent, that curiosity, that has gotten me where I am today. As always, my ADHD shows up in what I write, and my logic may not follow the path you were expecting, funny thing this article did not end up the way I outlined it first.
This opinion is mine, and mine only, my current or former employers, have nothing to do with it. I do not write for financial gain; I do not take advertising, and any product company listed was not paid. But if you do like what I write, you can donate to the charity I support (with my wife who passed away in 2017) Morgan Stanley’s Children’s Hospital or donate to your favorite charity. The fundraising site had to be restarted, and NYP Hospital made changes to their donation sites. I pay to host my site out of my own pocket; my intention is to keep it free. You can comment, but note it is moderated, and spam will be removed.
This Blog is a labor of love and was originally going to be a book. With the advent of being able to publish yourself on the web, I chose this path. I will write many of these and not worry too much about grammar or spelling (I will try to come back later and fix it) but focus on content. I apologize in advance for my ADD as topics may flip. I hope one day to turn this into a book and or a podcast, but for now it will remain a blog. AI is not used in this writing other than using the web to find information. Images without notes are created using an AI tool that allows me to reuse them. And as always spelunz iz opshunal.
