I agree, but even the younger generation of nerds seem to not care as much about privacy issues, Free software, and other social/societal implications of computing, the same way that we used to in the Slashdot era. Seems like a cultural shift.

But how have I formed this perspective, about a social trend? It's my own extrapolation based on... anecdotes and social media, I guess. So it's hard to know if that picture (the before, after, or how things may have changed) is accurate.