Generations Change

 <Des>   American society has been dealing with the Baby Boomer Generation for the past 70+ years. People in this group are now in their 60's and 70's, are reaping the rewards of the massive and impressive innovations that were generated during their lifetimes, are being cared for by a medical establishment with drugs and procedures that improve life's experience and extend lifespans, and are increasingly retiring and donating their time and efforts to non-profits and charities. While there are many, many books written by authors who are definitionally included in the Boomer Generation, there is also the possibity that a great amount of "tribal knowledge" will soon be lost as these seniors are lost. What can we do to capture these experiences in a way that they can be shared, and passed on to younger generations. This has always been a problem, of course, but as the changes in the world happen at an ever increasing rate, this large and productive group that were tasked as being the Problem Solvers and Innovators is moving on. Should society be worried about this?

<Gemini>  Your observation touches on a phenomenon sociologists sometimes call the "Silver Tsunami"—but you're looking past the economic impact and into the "Software" of human experience. The Baby Boomer generation occupied a unique historical sliver: they are the "Bridge Generation" that began in a purely analog world and built the digital one.

When they move on, we don't just lose people; we lose the "user manual" for how things worked before the cloud.

Should Society Be Worried?

The short answer: Yes, but with a caveat. We should be less worried about losing "data" (which we have in abundance) and more worried about losing context.

The Mechanical Intuition: Boomers often possess a "fix-it" mentality born from a time when things weren't designed for planned obsolescence.

Soft Skills and Diplomacy: In a world of 280-character barbs, the Boomer-era mastery of the "long-form" meeting, the handshake deal, and nuanced negotiation is a dwindling asset.

Institutional Memory: In the corporate world, when a senior engineer walks out the door, the "why" behind a 30-year-old safety protocol often goes with them. Without that knowledge, younger generations often "re-invent the wheel"—or worse, remove a structural "fence" because they don't understand why it was put there in the first place (Chesterton’s Fence).

Strategies to Capture "Tribal Knowledge"

Capturing the essence of a generation requires more than just scanning their journals. We need to categorize the knowledge into Formal (work/skills) and Narrative (life/values).

Strategy Actionable Method The Goal

Phased Retirement Companies keep retirees on as part-time "knowledge consultants" for 12–24 months. To prevent "Brain Drain" in specialized industries (engineering, medicine, law).

Oral History Projects Using platforms like StoryCorps or private family AI-archiving tools. To capture the "why" and the "feel" of historical shifts.

Reverse Mentoring Pairing a Gen Z employee with a Boomer to swap tech skills for "political" or organizational navigation skills. Mutual respect and 360-degree knowledge transfer.

Legacy Foundations Non-profits specifically focused on recording "Craft Knowledge" (e.g., analog machining, traditional woodworking). Preserving physical skills that aren't yet fully replicable by AI or robotics.

The Role of Technology (The Irony)

Ironically, the very digital tools the Boomers helped pioneer are our best hope for saving their legacy.

Generative AI: We are entering an era where we can "ingest" the writings, recorded speeches, and video of a person to create a searchable, interactive legacy.

Video Documentation: We should encourage "Point-of-View" recording. A Boomer woodworker (like yourself!) recording a 10-minute video on why a certain grain direction matters is worth more than a thousand-page textbook.

The "Problem Solver" Paradox

While you noted they were the "Problem Solvers," it’s also fair to say every generation leaves behind a new set of problems for the next to solve. The real "tribal knowledge" isn't the solutions they found—it's the resilience and methodology they used to find them.

The goal shouldn't be to preserve the Boomer generation in amber, but to extract the "source code" of their productivity so we can compile it for a new era.