Happy birthday to me

On the 3rd Feb, 1973 I first caught sight of the world.  In that year, the Australian top single was Tie a yellow ribbon round the ole oak tree. Its amazing how some of the songs on that list have still lived on having been repopularized through modern films. The two examples I can work out off the top of my head are:

* Killing me softly with his song - used in About a Boy

* You don't own me - First wives club

but there might be more (comments?)

So now that I'm on the downhill run to 40, it makes we wonder what fate awaits me.  Of the 40 songs that are listed in the australian pop archives, several seem to have survived to the modern era without being rehashed but most have simply fallen out of vogue never to be played again (accept in some weird 70's theme party where you have to come dressed as something starting with the letter 'P').  And what about the names of the songs? Even though I can't remember (or never knew) many of the tunes, the titles don't seem to have changed much in almost 40 years.  We are still singing about love, lost love and sex.  Is there anything new?

So it begs me to think about what this all means for my future.  As a technologist, how should I move with the times?  Are there going to be themes and technologies that I learned about in my 20's that will still be around in another 20 years time? What technologies are going to be 'rebirthed' to a new generation? And what technologies are simply going to fall by the wayside?  Putting your money on the right horse is pretty important for technologists because their fate will often be tied to the technology they are invested in. I sure don't want to be backing the horse that loses its rider as it rounds the final bend. Pass me my crystal ball...