So, I'm getting ready to turn 58 on Friday and as age increases the mind tends to wander and explore topics not usually pondered. I was looking back at what i have seen come about just in my lifetime.
I've seen the biggest technological revolution in human history. When I was a wee lad I remember getting excited with my folks when phones became push button instead of rotary and shortly thereafter, well it seems like a short time, they became wireless which was a game changer when you wanted to have privacy. Now there are cellular phones that merge computers and telephones all into the palm of your hand. Amazing!
The Internet is something that most people have access to and is basically a hotline to all of the knowledge man has acquired and can be accessed in seconds. What was once the playground of Nerds and professors / scientists now gives everyone full access to basically anything they would need to know.
I've seen automobiles go from devices that were doing extremely well to clock 70 to 80 thousand miles before you had to start looking at freshening up the engine to now 200,000 miles plus is the norm and if you dont get that you probably had a lemon. We are also now entering the beginnings of the EV era and have full electric and hybrid cars. Not quite the flying cars of the Jetson's but we're getting there.
I've seen computers go from things that took up large rooms in universities to things that can fit in the space a monitor takes up on your desktop or can be held in your hand. It's still hard to believe that my phone has more than 1,000,000 times more Ram and over 100,000 times more processing power than the guidance computer on the Apollo 11 Mission that landed a human on the face of an extraterrestrial body for the first time. (Leaving all the Star Trek green girl jokes alone as a sign of getting older.)
Sadly as we all have seen there are worse things to be sure. Last Sat. I saw, for the third time in my life, the attempted assassination of a political figure. That's depressing, however it's comforting to know all these have failed. I've seen the racial divide go from outright violence in the street to a place where I was hopeful that it would become a thing of the past right back to one of our major issues yet again. I've seen Families who no longer speak to each other based on which political party / candidate they support which is hardly something that should keep you from speaking to your family and friends.
The amount of good far outweighs the bad but we should all still strive to get rid of the bad while improving the good.