When my grandmother was born, airplanes were more than a decade in the future. In my lifetime, space exploration and exploitation became a reality. In the 20th century, automobiles took over. Electricity and telephones became ubiquitous, and television was invented. It would be impossible to name a century of greater change. Yet, I think more apparent change has occurred in the past two decades. By apparent change, I mean changes in daily life and routine. Think how dated movies made only a few years ago can seem. You’ll see people running around frantically searching for pay phones. You’ll see black computer screens with green type. You’ll hear people asking, “Where are we?!” The fabric of daily life now has an entirely different feel. Take, for example, the above cartoon from 20 years ago. Of course, many people—if they still have land lines—still have answering machines, but they’re not the icon of connectivity they once were. And kids in the household certainly do not consider them a lifeline! Technological change has been a juggernaut for the past 200 years, but the small details have never been more apparent than in the current century.
160 responses to “Answer Man”
“You’ll see people running around frantically searching for pay phones.”: You mean like Clark Kent?
Jimmy, the best summation I have read on technology impact. Thanks.
But… but… what happened on August 17th?? You skipped to August 24th! Susan was leaning in against Gene! There is no other record of that series of strips! What happened next??
(Enquiring minds want to know!)
Meanwhile, along with the demise of land lines came the demise of the second listing in the phone book (the WHAT??) that read “Teen Phone” for that address. That was for the sorts of teens that drove new cars and wore the latest fashions, not ones driving their grandparents’ donated Rambler.
Yesterday, I listened to The Ric Edelman Program.
He’s a financial advisor and spoke for a few minutes about Singularity University and the accelerating pace of technological change.
One item that he mentioned is that – only eight years ago in January 2007 – Apple’s smartphone was released.
He concluded by saying, “And I predict that the next years will be even more revolutionary.”
If he’s correct, then the 21st century’s rate of change might eclipse the 20th’s rate in only a couple of decades – or less.
(Another item worth mentioning: He has frequently stated that we need to rethink our retirement planning because of the advances in medicine. He has claimed that, right now, most of us who are in our early 60s can expect to live to our mid-90s. Yesterday, he said that the first person who will live to at least 150 has already been born.)
It’s amazing how many appurtenances of present-day life existed only in science fiction stories when I was a pre-teen.
It’s not the concept of targeted ads I abhor. Unlike Arlo, they do sometimes steer me to products for which I have an actual need. (Well, a perceived need, anyway.) It’s that when I investigate an item on, say, Amazon, I then have to look at tons of ads for that same product for the next week, and I’m all like, “Haven’t I already learned everything about that thingamajig I need to know?”
Arlo got a hat like Hoss wore 🙂 Neat…..
Good morning all, I am still here and none of my “staff” has appeared yet, I have not checked all my emails yet. Need to place some calls to friends around country about those cats. It is far too complicated (?) to get a REAL rescue group involved probably. Make that we aren’t busting into a testing lab for Loreal cosmetics but in a way it’s totally weird, like me.
Some of my boating friends who are also animal lovers are going to help me out. Remember? I am the only boat festival in America who not only welcomes pets but requires that a dog is on the committee that awards the boat show awards as a judge with equal voting privileges
About changes in a lifetime: I was raised by grandparents who were born after the Civil War. Before my grandmother died she had gone from horse and buggies where she was injured seriously in a historic buggy wreck to flying on jets to visit me in Hawaii. I would say that was quite a paradigm shift. But the interesting part to me was that I grew up in this same reference period and so her mental processes helped shape mine.
Too early for existentialism.
Love, Jackie
Forgot to say let us all think about Martin Luther King today and equality of mankind, the worth of life and rights. Think how far we have come and how far we still have to go.
Thanks Google for reminding me.
All: Today’s Frank & Ernest is a hoot.
http://www.gocomics.com/frankandernest
Peace, emb
I’m curious what you mean about space exploitation (I’m assuming it’s not along the lines of Mars Needs Women), if you would care to elucidate in a future post.
I will use Jimmy’s commentary to promote a book with a positive view of the future. “Abundance ~ the Future is Better Than You Think”
I enjoyed the read and fully believe in the future Peter envisions. Full disclosure: I count Peter as a friend.
http://www.diamandis.com/abundance/
You have some good friends Sand.
P.S. Sorry I made jokes about MENSA too.
Jackie, no need for apologies. If the IQ fills Arlo’s new hat then expect a little finger pointing. 😉
P.S. another post just begging for emoticons.
No, actually, the pace of tech advance has slowed. Take airplanes. In 1903, the airplane was invented. A kite with a little motor on it, flew 120 feet. Fifty years later, the Boeing 707, 500 miles an hour, 30,000 feet. Fifty years after that, about the same, except you pay for carry-ons.
Around 1900, Ford quadricycle. Sixty years later, Ford Mustang. Another 50 years, Mustangs run on unleaded fuel.
Other than for computers and the Internet, tech has slowed considerably.
OF due noon-1220, CST.
http://www.nps.gov/features/yell/webcam/oldFaithfulStreaming.html
Don’t want to put words in JJ’s mouth. Space exploitation, at this stage, may mostly be application of space exploration technology to other endeavors of a more practical sort. Generation or two ago, miniaturization from the Apollo project and such was applied to civilian use, so now we have apps and things.
Space exploration takes two basic forms: 1.Sending people or, now more often robots, someplace to check things out: e.g. Apollo, Cassini, and Curiosity.
2. Improving our vision, broadly conceived: e.g. detection of hundreds of exoplanets, refinement of cosmological theory, DNA analysis that improves our knowledge of what critters, plants, etc. are most closely related to what others, etc.
My own particular interest, which I’ve only explored a bit, is the implications of recent scientific knowledge and understanding for theology, broadly conceived. “Broadly conceived” = I’m not just thinking about Earth and universe being older than 6-10,000 yr., nor the diversity of critters [incl. us] and plants being the result, at least mostly, of natural processes in a universe that works naturally rather than having to be tinkered with by Elohim. [Didn’t say E. never tinkers, just that she doesn’t have to.] Peace, emb
OF: Good blow, worked up until about 1210, peaked at about 1212, simmering off now. emb
EMB, I think we are all part of a giant cosmic petri- dish (which spell check can’t spell either) which isn’t finished yet.
I wouldn’t say I was born pre computer, considering Admiral Hopper’s early work, but pre home computers, so I am amazed at the progress in the last 10 years of computers. Used in so much, and frequently so little thought about because they function so well for the most part. Communications and media in all formats and form is well beyond what was thought possible, or even imagined in 1900. I look at all of the changes that just my generation has seen, and it is no wonder that we begin to take the rapid change of technology for granted.
Ursen, so right. My sister recently purchased a car that has in it enough memory and chipsets to make 24 smartphones. While Loon and I each own a mechanical watch; at last inventory, our immediate lives contain almost 100 intelligent chipsets.
Yes, we do actual inventories, an occupational hazard of a software developer and a Googly geek sharing the same breathing space.
I agree that some great inventions like combustible engines, airplanes, telephones and electricity were all make within a few short years and appliances like refrigeration, stoves and microwaves were just refinements. Television was a bigger refinement and along with radio, had a dramatic impact on our culture The Space Age in the 60’s introduced smaller and lighter technology that took us from a room full of vacuum tube powered machines to a single chip.
As my soon to be 32 year old son was growing up, I told him that while I had seen big changes in my life, it was nothing compared to my grandparents and great-grandparents from the turn of the 20th century. The bar code label was to me a quirky invention, but it and personal computers led to the promise of change. However it was the proliferation of cellular phones and internet access (and the marriage of them ) that started to really change things. Once BlackBerrys (everyone wanted to own a crackberry) and smart phones became popular, bookstores and newspapers as well as retail stores have started to go the way of the railroad.
I agree that the pace of change over the last 20-30 years has been quite dramatic.
Ursen, just looked again at your post. The longer view of computing history would say we all have been born after the first computer. Charles Babbage designed and partially built the Differential Analyzer, the first computer. While being mechanical, it contained both registers and stores that performed the same functions as their silicon siblings. Further, Ada Lovelace (daughter of Lord Byron) wrote the operational code for the DF; earning her the title of First Computer Programmer. Ada also envisioned the machine capable of symbolic manipulation, manipulating any character set not just numbers. A joint view they held was the use of Jacquard loom cards as input-output media. All of this in the 1840’s.
I love this place!!!! Emoticons here and here! Intelligent conversations. Knowledgeable people.
Learning new things. All courtesy of those chips.
In regard to Babbage’s invention of the computer, it seems quite a few things we take for granted now were thought of long ago. But they didn’t know how to change it from theory to reality because the means had not yet been created. Which is the reason why being a patent troll has become quite profitable for some. They didn’t create anything, just bought the then-useless patent and waited for someone else to make it real and demanded a share of the profits.