As a hobby, kids today should try 21st-century orienteering

Figuring out how to drive from point A to point B using only a road atlas, with no online maps or GPS

Founder, The Roots of Progress (rootsofprogress.org). I write about the history of technology and the philosophy of progress. Former tech founder.

creating and destroying; built flying cars & autonomous vehicles, now building /faust, more here: /july, web: july.rocks

Exploration though of the unknown both mentally and physically is an underrated trait, and I think increasingly as we mature as human beings over our lifetime we lose touch with our desire to go above and beyond the known dangers - not that you should dive head first into the unknown constantly (experience helps)

One of my favorite things as a child was orienting myself with just a map to unknown locations - and trying to traverse (previously unknown to myself) locations that I'd never explored before. In a time with no smartphone, and just a map, this was an exhilarating experience. Times have obviously changed since then

except to emulate real world conditions you have to do it under a time constraint with a family member riding shotgun that disagrees with your route