the past is a foreign country gregory a petsko reflects on the changing worldviews of younger generations, using the example of a 2014 college class to illustrate how today's children have vastly different experiences and knowledge compared to previous generations. he notes that while some things have changed, others remain the same, such as the hostility between the english and french. the article highlights how the 2014 class, born in 1992, has never known certain things, such as how to write in cursive, or the existence of the berlin wall. they have grown up in a world of technology, with access to the internet, computers, and genetic sequencing from an early age. they have never experienced a world without personal computers, the internet, or cable television. they have also never known a world without cDNA microarrays or the concept of 'xerox' as a verb. the article then speculates on the scientific worldview of someone born in 1988, noting that for them, dna fingerprinting would have always existed, and protein crystal structure determination would have been routine. molecular biology would not have been a separate discipline, but rather a set of techniques taught in high schools. they would have never known a world without kits for automatic experiments, and they would have grown up in the age of genomics. they would have never seen a lecture given with slides from a carousel projector, and they would have never known a world without cDNA microarrays. the article concludes by noting that the past is a foreign country, and that the worldviews of different generations are vastly different.the past is a foreign country gregory a petsko reflects on the changing worldviews of younger generations, using the example of a 2014 college class to illustrate how today's children have vastly different experiences and knowledge compared to previous generations. he notes that while some things have changed, others remain the same, such as the hostility between the english and french. the article highlights how the 2014 class, born in 1992, has never known certain things, such as how to write in cursive, or the existence of the berlin wall. they have grown up in a world of technology, with access to the internet, computers, and genetic sequencing from an early age. they have never experienced a world without personal computers, the internet, or cable television. they have also never known a world without cDNA microarrays or the concept of 'xerox' as a verb. the article then speculates on the scientific worldview of someone born in 1988, noting that for them, dna fingerprinting would have always existed, and protein crystal structure determination would have been routine. molecular biology would not have been a separate discipline, but rather a set of techniques taught in high schools. they would have never known a world without kits for automatic experiments, and they would have grown up in the age of genomics. they would have never seen a lecture given with slides from a carousel projector, and they would have never known a world without cDNA microarrays. the article concludes by noting that the past is a foreign country, and that the worldviews of different generations are vastly different.