Rob read a book by Jean Twenge, who makes a case that GenZ should really be named iGen. In this episode, we spend some time talking about this generation, how it is different from our own generation, GenX, and what generations really are.

Formally named generations are a relatively new idea, along with the rise of social sciences. Note that generations are also dependent on cultural contexts. If we look back, earlier generations include:

• The Lost Generation, 1883-1900
• The Greatest Generation, 1901-1927
• The Silent Generation, 1928-1945
• Baby Boomers (Generation W), 1946-1964
• Gen X, 1965-1980
• Millennials, 1981-1996
• Generation Z, 1997-2012
• Generation Alpha, 2010-2021

Timeline of generations in the Western world with notable events by CMG Lee. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.

Twenge has a TEDx talk

Things That Blew Us Away

Rob: Research suggests that the east side of cities are statistically the more economically depressed because it was historically the stinky side of the towns.

Christen: The movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, have you seen it? If not, it is really fantastic and has flown under the mainstream radar since it was released. The movie does such a fabulous job of world building on an epic scale in the length of one movie, I just want to live there.

Next episode we are going to talk about this movie and the technologies depicted.