Is the DIY spirit of tinkering disappearing?

An anonymous reader writes: When I was young, I wanted to be a pilot. I guess it was a generational thing – I’m sure my forefathers wanted to be train drivers at some point. It instilled in me a fascination for engineering, an insatiable desire to understand how things worked. Now, we’ve turned from a culture of engineers to people who would rather keep their hands clean. The truly adventurous might go as far as plugging their laptop into their car via the OBD socket, just to see what’s happening. From computing to car mechanics, it seems as though the spirit of tinkering and discovery at home in danger of disappearing. Is this wrong?