Good morning & happy Monday!
“I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”
– Albert Einstein
Well, Mr. Einstein, I’m afraid we may have arrived. 😉
The world is at our fingertips with the mobile device in our hand. I was thinking about the powerful computers that most of us carry around in our pockets or purses and how the world would be virtually unrecognizable to people 100 years ago.
The cell phone has replaced most of our landlines these days, but what else has the cell phone replaced?
- Camera
- Camcorder
- Photo albums
- Calculator
- Flash light
- Alarm clock
- Timers
- GPS
- Walkie talkies
- Portable DVD players
- MP3 players
- Watches
- Voice recorders
- Calendars
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Books
- Board games
- Radios
- Game consoles
- TVs
- Typewriters
- The ability to spell
I’m sure there’s more and give it a few more years and I can’t even imagine what it will be like.
This changing world can be scary, I get it. But it can also be exciting. These technological advancements are both good and bad. It’s a mixed bag.
Do you want to go back to a time when you would have to go into your local AAA office to get a paper map to take a road trip?
Do you miss the days when you would have to talk really fast on a long-distance phone call so your bill wouldn’t be through the roof?
What about wanting to take a picture and lugging around a huge camera and then having to get the film developed only to find your grandchild was picking his nose for the family photo?
We all share the concerns that technological advances bring, but we should not be so quick to think it’s all bad.
A couple of personal stories:
About 10-12 years ago I had a bad case of athlete’s foot that got infected. I put on the cream every night to try to treat it, but eventually I needed to get some medical attention (with the strong “encouragement” from my wife 😉). When I walked into the clinic, and they saw my foot they put me on a drip antibiotic to get the drugs working in my system right away. I asked the nurse “What would have happened if this happened 100 years ago before antibiotics were available?” Her response: “We would have amputated your leg.” Yeah, I’m glad I wasn’t living in that era.
A few years ago, I toured a living history museum where actors displayed what life was like during the Revolutionary War period. When visiting the medical tent they discussed the common practice for headaches … drilling a hole in your head! Yeah, back then they thought a headache meant they needed to release pressure from your skull, so they drilled a hole to release some pressure! Yikes!!! Yeah, I’m glad I wasn’t living in that era.
I had the privilege of visiting Rome last year and toured the Colosseum … a place where human beings (and animals) were routinely killed for sport. This was a time when if you said something bad about the emperor it meant a death sentence. If a neighboring city decided to invade your city and you were on the losing side of the battle it meant you were enslaved for life to the army that defeated you. Yeah, I’m glad I wasn’t living in that era.
My friends, we are living at the absolute peak of human existence! What other time frame would you rather live in? What other country would you rather live in? It’s an incredible time to be alive.
Most of our problems these days are first world problems. The car broke down. The cell phone service is not good. The wi-fi is slow. These problems pale in comparison to what previous generations dealt with or what people today in other parts of the world are dealing with.
As the political season starts to heat up and all the politicians (from all sides) try to spoon feed us crap about how horrible life is here in the United States, I hope this message of perspective and hope can be an antidote to all that negativity.
Life is far from perfect, life will never be perfect this side of eternity. But, we are a blessed people, living in an amazing time, in an incredible country.
The politicians are selling doom and despair, let them know you aren’t buying what they are selling!
Thank you for the honor to be a part of the story you are writing.
Make it a great week ahead!