Last weeks episode is here:    • The Decline of Hobby Electronics?  
In this weeks episode, we ask, has complexity and integration made things harder for anyone interested in learning about electronics? As innovations in electronics leads to discrete components being integrated into miniaturised circuits (known as "Integrated Circuits"), the march of time sees whole IC's being integrated into even more specially miniaturised package, providing even greater functionality with less components. The advent of programmable calculator chips leads to the innovation of the microprocessor/ microcontroller, forming the basis of "software controlled" electronics as well as bringing about the personal computer (PC). As time continued, even the humble PC has been "component-ised" into a single module, which can now be found embedded in larger systems. The recent Raspberry Pizero is an example of this. The steady progression of innovation has perhaps taken away the "building blocks" that early hobbyists used to learn from and replaced them with much higher level components, which are arguably far more complex to understand but provides for an incredible opportunity to do so much more. So for the enthusiast today, how much do they need to understand about the fundamentals of electronics to even begin in the practice? Has complexity and integration left some from the old days behind? In the past, you could have an understanding about virtually anything in electronics (then known as radio) however today that would almost be impossible. Very early on, you need to specialise in a field of electronics/software engineering because technology today is just so vast and complex. So is this complexity another reason people would turn away from electronics as a vocation?

Now that we have established many of the current day obstacles facing hobbyists who want to pursue and practice electronics (in all its forms), next week we will look at the role of education in technology ... is there a problem with our schools and institutions in the way they teach technological subjects? Is electronics even taught at schools anymore?

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