New Technology?

[trseaman]

Wha??!?!!?!?

Technology has grown for the last century at an incredible pace! My grandfather was born in 1900. His early life had more in common with someone in the dark ages than it had in common with yours. His family had no electricity, no phone, no running water, no cars, no radio, no television. There was no inoculation for polio or smallpox. They didn't have any of the modern medicines -- no antibiotics, decongestants, antihistimines. Aspirin had JUST been invented, as had the X-Ray, and VERY few people had access to those high-tech items.

Travel between continents was by boat -- as often as not by sail rather than steam. Travel between cities was usually behind a horse -- and an untimely illness for the horse could mean disaster for the family, as there was little effective veterinary care, and the horse was often needed both for transportation and for tilling the soil, because there were no tractors.

Weather forecasting in any sense that we'd recognize today was unknown, as there was no radar and no satellites.

They kept warm in winter by building a fire. At night they used candles and oil lamps to see. Bathing was a weekly event, not daily. Most people had only one or two outfits of clothing. Most people had never seen a car, let alone owned one.

In that scant 106 years since my grandfather was born, technological advances have COMPLETELY revolutionized EVERY phase of our lives! Because you are so young, you've only seen a tiny slice of history, and it's understandable that you don't realize how quickly technology has been advancing, but believe me IT IS!!

And isn't it just amazing how the world has changed in the past 100 years?! It's hard to imagine if the next 100 years will be this productive! The old saying about "living in the stone age" was virtually true almost 100 years ago, at least compared to todays world.

My old-time story is about my grandmother who is now 92 yrs young. When she was a young child (I think around 1915) her family moved from Kansas to NW Arkansas. They traveled by covered wagon and it took a few days to get there, hard to imagine!

I keep saying how cool it is to be alive at this point in time but others look to the past and long for a more simple life...

[Rick Denney]

that got me thinking........why dont cell phones have lighters. You know the things that "light"

There's no requirement for such in the design, and the designers don't think such a requirement would meet a need.

And the TSA goons would take it away from you at airport security.

Rick "who thinks we are very good at designing things we need enough to be willing to pay for them" Denney

[Mark]

Rick "who thinks we are very good at designing things we need enough to be willing to pay for them" Denney

Actually, all the good technology that we enjoy today came from the alien spaceship that crashed near Roswell.

[Chuck(G)]

Actually, all the good technology that we enjoy today came from the alien spaceship that crashed near Roswell.

Aliens? Did someone say Aliens?

[windshieldbug]

Aliens? Did someone say Aliens?

If you're going to start talking about immigration, Sean'll lock this thread, too!

[LoyalTubist]

On the Lost in Space TV series, the Robinson family left for unknown planets in 1997. I guess it will be a while before we hear anything from them, now that it's been nine years.

[windshieldbug]

I guess it will be a while before we hear anything from them, now that it's been nine years.

Maybe. But don't forget the thread robot...



Danger, Will Robinson! Danger, Danger! Immediate Danger!

[Kevin Hendrick]

I guess it will be a while before we hear anything from them, now that it's been nine years.

Maybe. But don't forget the thread robot...



Danger, Will Robinson! Danger, Danger! Immediate Danger!

This-does-not-compute ...

[TMurphy]

In December 1903, the Wright brothers flew the first powered aircraft in history. Before that, human flight was not possible...and people certainly tried. Thousands of years of effort, and it wasn't until 1903 that it was accomplished. In July of 1969, not even 66 years later, humanity landed on the moon. That's a distance of 225,000 miles. The Wright brother's flew for 859 feet. How much faster would you like technology to evolve??

And how much cooler do you get than landing on the moon?? (and you get to drink Tang!)

[LoyalTubist]

And Space Food Sticks will be back soon.

http://www.funkyfoodshop.com/moreinfo.c ... N=44622807

[adam0408]

Because you are so young, you've only seen a tiny slice of history, and it's understandable that you don't realize how quickly technology has been advancing, but believe me IT IS!!

I was not denying that there has been significant advances, and in no way have I thought the world has been like "this" since the freakin big bang. I'm just asking this, because there appears to have been a slow down in pace by comparison to the past history. I mean yea, we have small mp3's that I can eat by accident, but nothing revolutionary, such as personal computers by comparison has come out. I mean the kind of technology that really changes life styles and the way things are done. Please, I am not THAT ignorant that I dont know the technology of the past.

-tubachris

I know exactly what you mean. We still have to sit down in front of a computer screen and use a keyboard for our computing purposes. this method of input and output has remained virtually unchanged for 20 years. Sure hardware has gotten better and faster and different, but not so much so that it transcends the barriers of our current equipment (on a large scale).

The internal combustion engine running on fossil fuels remains king in transportation. This invention is fundamentally the same as it was 100 years ago. The only things that have changed are manufacturing procedures and materials, and all the fancy doo dads we tack on the engines. These things make the engines run more smoothly and more efficiently but really make no difference in the fundamental function of the technology.

Small victories lead up to large ones, and there have been a lot of small technological victories in the past 20 years, but I do agree with TUBACHRIS85 when he says there have been very few large technological advancements in that time period.

Right now, we are running on old technology. MP3's have revolutionized the music industry in recent times, but they were invented in 1997. That is nine years ago. CDs were invented in the late 1960's, came into common use in the 90s and now are still the predominant media choice for saleable music. Our computers are made of technology devised 20 to 30 years ago. Sure things have gotten smaller, better and faster, but the basic technology remains the same.

To sum up this very lengthy post, I would say that there definately needs to be (and probably will be) some very interesting technological advances in the next few years, and I am excited. While our parent's generation has seen a lot of change over their lifetimes, we haven't yet. I would say that its about time.

[MartyNeilan]

I know exactly what you mean. We still have to sit down in front of a computer screen and use a keyboard for our computing purposes. this method of input and output has remained virtually unchanged for 20 years. Sure hardware has gotten better and faster and different, but not so much so that it transcends the barriers of our current equipment (on a large scale).

The internal combustion engine running on fossil fuels remains king in transportation. This invention is fundamentally the same as it was 100 years ago. The only things that have changed are manufacturing procedures and materials, and all the fancy doo dads we tack on the engines. These things make the engines run more smoothly and more efficiently but really make no difference in the fundamental function of the technology.

Small victories lead up to large ones, and there have been a lot of small technological victories in the past 20 years, but I do agree with TUBACHRIS85 when he says there have been very few large technological advancements in that time period.

Right now, we are running on old technology. MP3's have revolutionized the music industry in recent times, but they were invented in 1997. That is nine years ago. CDs were invented in the late 1960's, came into common use in the 90s and now are still the predominant media choice for saleable music. Our computers are made of technology devised 20 to 30 years ago. Sure things have gotten smaller, better and faster, but the basic technology remains the same.

To sum up this very lengthy post, I would say that there definately needs to be (and probably will be) some very interesting technological advances in the next few years, and I am excited. While our parent's generation has seen a lot of change over their lifetimes, we haven't yet. I would say that its about time.

Came across this interesting post. Two things really stuck out -
#1 Touchscreen tablets are becoming very popular and replacing computers little by little for many uses.
#2 Hybrid cars have been around for ten years, some base models are affordable (by new car standards), and we are now seeing mainstream attempts at selling pure electric cars.
Anything else?