Source: Tiger Shark's comments here

Ms. M: You also have to understand that this is a natural progression of society.... Used to be that you could build your house, live in your house, fix your house, grow your veggies, keep your animals that gave you milk and eggs etc. etc. etc. But as things become more complex then people are no longer able to manage all the knowledge required to manage their own life. Thus we "specialize". When we specialize we determine what is important and what isn't. Your car is important... It gets you to work.... I just, (2 hours ago), had a guy in to fix my washing machine... sucks... now I have to finish the laundry... ... But _my_ computer is fine as is my sweetie's.... because I am "specialized".... or "special"... depending on who you talk to.....
I decided to continue this here since it was taking away from the existing thread. Hope that's ok, TS.

The thing that has me concerned is if society is less inclined to do research (and we are seeing a large portion of society not wanting to do it), are we running the risk of fewer discoveries being made and perhaps society going back steps? I know I tend to see it disproportionately as an educator but I find it scary sometimes to think that there are many going out there with little to no desire to do anything beyond play games. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a good round with a BFG but if everyone played games, then who would do things?

In addition, in a broader scale, our dependence on the Internet has, I wonder, made the rest of society seem impersonal and thus no one is interested in being part of society unless it's made of 1s and 0s. Forums like this -- where there is a sense of "community" -- seem to be thriving. I was shocked as to how many exist out there (I'm now part of communities for long distance cycling, gaming and private gaming).

I don't think we need to be super specialized on everything but I find it's getting to a point where people won't even deal with the basic things. And that is probably what has me more concerned. Not everyone can fix a car's computer but you should be able to fix a flat, shouldn't you?