If there is one thing that age does, it is to provide perspective. As King Solomon is reported to have said, "There is nothing new under the sun."

I got into electronics not only as a hobbyist but as a 12-year-old kid--in 1962.

And every decade or so, the discussion of "the future of hobby electronics" resurfaces, nearly always treating the subject as a crisis that should evoke loud wailing and much hand-wringing.

In the early 1960s, the "crisis" was caused by the transistor: It's so tiny! And sensitive (early germanium transistors could be damaged if they were dropped!--early silicon transistors didn't like the heat of a soldering iron!). And the average hobbyist couldn't quite understand how the damn things worked! (Electroncs that move, yes; but "holes" that move?)

The printed circuit board was also cited as marking the end of hobby electronics . . .

I recall reading an article in 1965 that predicted the death of hobby electronics within 10 years. Apparently the hobbyists didn't believe this.

The integrated circuit sparked the same woeful predication, and the microprocessor fired it up again.

But those stubborn, nefarious, insidious electronics hobbyists simply refuse to listen to the experts. In true Darwinian fashion, they adapt to the changes and evolve.