Abstract :
This column looks back at the days when we had direct, tactile control of our appliances and wonders what impact the loss of this control is having on our children´s interest in engineering. Increased complexity in our work life also leads to our feeling this lack of direct control. Yet, perhaps it´s a mistake to pine for those days of direct control. Maybe our children´s ability to find and fix a problem by its symptoms will be essential for testing the products of the future.
