Technology in the Last Century

[Eja117]

The technology I try to love, but admittedly have a love/hate relationship with is medicine.

Our teeth are waaayyyy better (used to be a major life threatening issue), we live way longer, we have phenomenal surgery techniques now, MRIs, yadda yadda.

On the other hand we had rabies vaccines as early as 1885, and a polio vaccine in the 40s-50s, but in 70ish years, no major vaccines/cures.  With all our computers and education just none. Verdy disappointing of course.

Oh, I don't know about that, eja.  Magic Johnson is still alive and prosperous decades after his diagnosis of the Aids virus.  I, myself, had a flue shot and pneumonia shot last year for the prevention of those diseases, and I am waiting for my dose of Shingles vacine to be delivered to my doctor, as I have friends who chose not to get it suffer great pain and hospitalizations with it.  So those are three advances right there.  We have heart transplants, and just in the last couple years...face transplants.  Prosthesis devices have advanced tremendously...people with artificial legs are running marathons!  If I took the time, I could probably come up with many more.  How about Heart defibrulators?

I know. I tried to keep this to "major cures". Technically Magic isn't cured and his medicine is cost prohibitive (I think).
And also I know some people would find shingles, the flu, pneumonia, etc to be major diseases, but I don't.

I realize that the Gipper died at age 21 with a simple infection that would be easily treatable today and that anti-biotics are amazing. I'm just saying I would have thought things would be a little different by now on the cures front. Instead we have treatments. Amazing treatments, but I am hoping for cures. Like small pox was eradicated. That hasn't happened for a long time now.

Wired had an interesting piece on potential breakthroughs in this area.  http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/tag/anti-viral-drugs/

woah...eenteresting

[nickagneta]

Technology:

Kids now play indoors rather than play outdoors.

The internet will put the Postal Service out of business.

Smart phones have made people stupid.

Breakfast in New York, lunch in Los Angeles, dinner in Honolulu, sleep in Tokyo.

Christmas shopping without leaving your house.

Polio, measles, and so many other diseases no longer kill children.

We can travel the solar system.

We can blow up the world.

[Eja117]

Technology:

Kids now play indoors rather than play outdoors.

The internet will put the Postal Service out of business.

Smart phones have made people stupid.

Breakfast in New York, lunch in Los Angeles, dinner in Honolulu, sleep in Tokyo.

Christmas shopping without leaving your house.

Polio, measles, and so many other diseases no longer kill children.

We can travel the solar system.

We can blow up the world.

Farheed Zakaria wrote an interesting article praising mutual guaranteed destruction. It was hard to disagree with

[chicagoceltic]

The speed of technological advances really is amazing and will advance exponentially quicker moving forward.  The century that fascinates me though is the 1900's.  Just take a second to think about the fact that the first "true automobile" (with internal cumbustion engine) was not made until 1885/1886 and then just 18 years later in 1903 the Wright brothers take flight.  A mere 66 years later a man lands on the moon.  Thoughsands of years man was chained to the earth and then in a relative blink of an eye we are landing on the moon.  Many more advances/inventions came in the 1900's as well...

[thirstyboots18]

The technology I try to love, but admittedly have a love/hate relationship with is medicine.

Our teeth are waaayyyy better (used to be a major life threatening issue), we live way longer, we have phenomenal surgery techniques now, MRIs, yadda yadda.

On the other hand we had rabies vaccines as early as 1885, and a polio vaccine in the 40s-50s, but in 70ish years, no major vaccines/cures.  With all our computers and education just none. Very disappointing of course.

viruses are a quagmire

There is a huge difference between eradication, prevention and cure.  The polio virus still exists, the disease can be prevented, but polio has not yet been cured, to my knowledge.  Also,  the flu is not a single disease...and it is not just a case of the sniffles.  Certain strains can quickly become seriously life threatening to major segments of the population (children or the elderly, for example).  I think it is absolutely amazing that preventive vaccines are invented and adapted and distributed with such speed now.

[LB3533]

Nature, science, technology...humankind are all changing and will forever continue to change.

Viruses, bacteria...how many different kinds are out there? How many different kinds have yet to be discovered....yet to mutate?

Advancements in any field...especially technology...are designed with goals and intentions of making things "easier".

Good in theory, but in reality and in practice...when we make things easier we end up making things harder.

Our future and the generations after will be a bunch of lazy, techno geeked out cry babies.

"Real" men and women will be a thing of the past, I'm afraid.

Just look at some current aspects of society....

Beauty = Airbrush

Music = Autotune

Entertainment = Remakes/Reboots or another reality program or another singing competition etc.

Lastly, I saw a commercial for a car that can park itself...what the heck is that?

Asians all over the world, rejoice?

[fairweatherfan]

This thread and the last post in particular reminded me of this classic Louis CK bit:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

Technology will never overcome the human tendency to take things for granted and romanticize the past.

And if your first reaction to seeing the clip was "Ugh why does this video file streamed instantaneously through thin air to what would've been the most powerful machine in human history 40 years ago have to be so fuzzy? ", then you're a prime example 

[Eja117]

There are some things I'm definitely going to take for granted. Wheels. Fire. Beer. Color TV.

Sometimes the issue isn't so much that it exists or not, but the price. When people started showing that you could download and then burn songs onto a cd for like $2 suddenly people weren't so happy about the idea of paying $20 for music. Sometimes it's companies that take us for granted, not the other way round.

[thirstyboots18]

This thread and the last post in particular reminded me of this classic Louis CK bit:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r1CZTLk-Gk

Technology will never overcome the human tendency to take things for granted and romanticize the past.

And if your first reaction to seeing the clip was "Ugh why does this video file streamed instantaneously through thin air to what would've be n the most powerful machine in human history 40 years ago have to be so fuzzy? ", then you're a prime example 

Love this!!! TP for posting it.  My basic pet peeve is that people who used to expect all of life's problems to be solved in an hour, now expect them to be solved in 40 minutes (because you can fast  forward through the commercials).   

[Eja117]

But if technology improves and I keep paying for it I'm allowed to raise my expectations? Right?

[Neurotic Guy]

As a baby-boomer (born in 1958) I find it amusing what people younger than me post about this.  It's all about what has happened in the last 20 years with the Internet, video games, cell phones etc.  Those are amazing inventions for sure, but people always been amazed by new technology in every era.  When I was a kid my family didn't have a color TV.  Can you imagine how amazed I was to watch The Wizard of Oz for the first time in color?  How about the first space flight? Landing on the moon?  Vietnam war from the comfort of your living room?  About about truly high-fidelity music recordings?  The first music synthesizer?  The first laser printers?  The list is endless, there has never been a shortage of "gee-whiz" !!

I was born in '58 too.  I agree that all the events you mention had 'wow' factor.  But so much has happened so quickly in the last 15-20 years that impact day to day life and communications that I am constantly amazed (and constantly 2 steps behind).  
I was blown away by the convenience of  Mapquest 10 years ago, only to be flabbergasted by my GPS 5 years later. I was ecstatic when I rented my first VHS movie (around 1983); now DVDs are delived to my house queued through the internet and I can buy books 'through the air' in 10 seconds via my Kindle.  Having a cell phone and being able to communicate with my kids wherever they are is unreal.  No need for payphones or for worries if plans change suddenly.  

I remember after college (1980) I'd speak to my close friends once or twice a year.  Now I can touch base with old friends whenever I'm on the road (I talk to some college friends every week now).   As recently as 15-20 years ago, I couldn't screen calls and ended up answering agonizing 'Tru-green Chem-lawn' sales calls every month.  
I remember sending my very first e-mail at a new job in 1997.  Less than 15 years ago!  At that time I had no home computer, had never seen the internet, my first cell phone was 5 years away, and I had never used a word processor.  I had no knowledge of Netflix, On-demand, texting, faxing, I-Pods, e-mail, word processing or Celtics Blogs (things that now impact my life everyday).  20 years ago I was still using a Smith-Corona with a bottle of whiteout.
 
Someday I'll figure out what Facebook and Twitter are.

[Kiorrik]

I often find myself thinking "How on Earth did I ever do this before the internet?" and I can't even remember.

Sometimes I just use slightly lower technology than other people and they can't figure it out for a second.

About 7 years ago I don't think I owned a cell and I drove to Fenway to meet some guys for a game. They were all Ivy Leaguers and they wondered how I had found the place without a cell if I had needed directions.

I told them I had stopped in a library on the way and printed out directions from mapquest.

They all said in unison "That's so resourceful. I would never have thought of that. I'm completely dependent on this smart phone"

I keep telling the guy at radio shack he has to give me a decade to catch up to where we were  a decade ago.

I'm the kind of guy that buys a big flat scree top notch tv, then I get a tad bit discouraged by having to pay for HD, then my eyes adjust, my wife and I say "I don't see the difference at all" and then I don't buy it. 

I always buy used cds and dvds and video games.  When they come out with PS4 and XBox 720 I'll still be on PS2 and Xbox 1.    And I am telling you right now I find PS2 amazing.

Psh, I'm still stuck on Diablo (1996) on my pc

[nickagneta]

I often find myself thinking "How on Earth did I ever do this before the internet?" and I can't even remember.

Sometimes I just use slightly lower technology than other people and they can't figure it out for a second.

About 7 years ago I don't think I owned a cell and I drove to Fenway to meet some guys for a game. They were all Ivy Leaguers and they wondered how I had found the place without a cell if I had needed directions.

I told them I had stopped in a library on the way and printed out directions from mapquest.

They all said in unison "That's so resourceful. I would never have thought of that. I'm completely dependent on this smart phone"

I keep telling the guy at radio shack he has to give me a decade to catch up to where we were  a decade ago.

I'm the kind of guy that buys a big flat scree top notch tv, then I get a tad bit discouraged by having to pay for HD, then my eyes adjust, my wife and I say "I don't see the difference at all" and then I don't buy it. 

I always buy used cds and dvds and video games.  When they come out with PS4 and XBox 720 I'll still be on PS2 and Xbox 1.    And I am telling you right now I find PS2 amazing.

Psh, I'm still stuck on Diablo (1996) on my pc

That Diablo game rocked.

Anyone remember Myst!

Now compare that to the RPG games out 15 years later. Unreal.

[Kiorrik]

I often find myself thinking "How on Earth did I ever do this before the internet?" and I can't even remember.

Sometimes I just use slightly lower technology than other people and they can't figure it out for a second.

About 7 years ago I don't think I owned a cell and I drove to Fenway to meet some guys for a game. They were all Ivy Leaguers and they wondered how I had found the place without a cell if I had needed directions.

I told them I had stopped in a library on the way and printed out directions from mapquest.

They all said in unison "That's so resourceful. I would never have thought of that. I'm completely dependent on this smart phone"

I keep telling the guy at radio shack he has to give me a decade to catch up to where we were  a decade ago.

I'm the kind of guy that buys a big flat scree top notch tv, then I get a tad bit discouraged by having to pay for HD, then my eyes adjust, my wife and I say "I don't see the difference at all" and then I don't buy it. 

I always buy used cds and dvds and video games.  When they come out with PS4 and XBox 720 I'll still be on PS2 and Xbox 1.    And I am telling you right now I find PS2 amazing.

Psh, I'm still stuck on Diablo (1996) on my pc

That Diablo game rocked.

Anyone remember Myst!

Now compare that to the RPG games out 15 years later. Unreal.

The funny thing is, Myst could have easily been made by a single, savvy 3D modeller. Games of today, Skyrim for example, are made by about a hundred people, even though their successes are 'comparable'.

[nickagneta]

Has anyone read Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy?

Written in 1950 Asimov's theory was that humanity's greatest accomplishment was in miniaturization of their technology. The future was in the miniaturization of nuclear power.

Strange how anything that gets invented by mankind sometimes starts huge and then gets smaller and more useful to an individual person.

Think how big the original cell phones were, televisions, computer main frames, engines, clocks to wrsit watches, cameras, etc. Asimov was so brilliant.