January 30, 2005
A Wondrous World
As I sit here on a transcontinental plane flight, listening to satellite radio, typing on a laptop computer, I am reminded of a feeling that often crosses my mind. When I look around at the world we live in, I am nothing less than amazed.
I think back to what the world was like 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 100 years ago, or in the days of early humans. There is no other response to the technological prowess of our world than utter amazement. Technology pushes our lives from the time our electric alarm clock and automatic coffee-maker prepare us to face the day, to the time we fall asleep on our ergonomic, neck-saving hypo-allergenic pillows. Almost everything we do in between takes advantage of technologies that didn’t exist for our grandparents, and were at best infant technologies in our parent’s time.
100 years ago, the automobile was a luxury. And that “luxury” was unreliable. That “luxury” frequently didn’t have a roof, or a heater, had to be manually cranked to start, and in the early days, lacked a steering wheel. Today, the bargain-basement Kia has a level of reliability, features, and comfort greater than the luxury cars of only 30 years ago. We’ve reached a point now where the car, rather than being a mode of transportation, is bought as a statement. It’s now a large piece of jewerly used to adorn us and express our fashion sense.
Alexander Graham Bell created the telephone not too long ago. The telephone was a roughly static concept for the majority of the time it has existed. But now, we have cellular phones. It is nearly impossible to not be able to reach someone when it is needed. In the early days of cellular, the phones were big, bulky, barely worked, and had a battery long enough for use in emergencies, but not much else. Now, finding an area without cellular coverage is harder than finding one with coverage. As a true measure of its usefulness, many young people today (myself included) have foregone even purchasing land-line phone coverage in our homes.
Medicine, in the olden days, was nothing but prayer and leeches. Even in our recent past, a heart condition or cancer was a death sentence. Now, we’ve progressed so far handling normal diseases that we can have Bob Dole on TV stumping for Viagra. Back when I used to be a smoker, I told people I wasn’t worried about cancer, because by the time I would have contracted it, they’ll have a cure. I no longer smoke, but nevertheless, it’s probably a true statement.
I could chronicle all the other ways that technology is changing our world. As an engineer, I understand technology; from a purely understanding perspective, it does not baffle me. But when I look at the world, I can’t even envision a world without it. Some people are excited about what wondrous things may come in the future, as I certainly am also. Yet I constantly come back to a profound excitement for the present. In 1676 Isaac Newton wrote to a friend, “If I have seen further than others, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.” And sitting here traveling 35,000 feet above the earth, I know exactly how he feels. While I’m not the kind of person to proclaim that everything worthwhile that can be invented already has, sometimes I can’t help but remember how wondrous our world is now.
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… “and I certainly am to.” The grammar nazi within me demands this be changed to “too”.
-Sam
My bad, Sam. I’ll be sure to change that.
I guess I was mentally harrowed after 6 1/2 hours of delays before my flight took off, followed by hours of flying and arriving at my hotel at 2 AM. All due to an ice storm here in “Hot”lanta.
Technology has advanced, but we can’t seem to beat the weather… At least not yet.