>  I do not have a single friend who works on their own cars. Not a single one. ... I'm revered as some sort of mechanical genius, though I make no such claim myself.

I think it's always been about the same, the ratio of "fixers" vs
"knowlessmen". Seems to me that the gulf between them has just become
more apparent because complex devices have proliferated such that they
fill more of our lives than they did (say) 30 years ago. I am the only
technically competent person among my friends, so I'm constantly
fielding questions and fixing stuff for them. Everything from cars to
computers to electrical wiring. I've known them all for 30+ years, and
they're all competent in their chosen career fields, have degrees,
etc. They, like most people, just don't seem to have the "engineer
bone". I can't look at anything mechanical or electronic without
wondering how it works and eyeballing it with an eye for details that
might inform me about it.Everyone else, it seems, just pushes the
button on the DVD player and watches the movie. Me, I have my Torx
driver out so I can look inside my new player to see what kind of
microcontroller it uses...

--
John Bange
'90 Vanagon - "Lastwagen"
'90 Vanagon GL - "Wiesel"