Snapshots of a Modest Life

Are We Missing Out?

I saw a program on PBS this summer about the new hydrogen cars and was completely fascinated by the technology that would enable to cars to operate with water as the only pollutant. Then I got to thinking about the advances in technology in the last century or so. Just think that a hundred years ago, most people would still have been driving a horse and buggy, and the fastest cars went an astonishing 20 miles per hour or something like that, and did you hear that two brothers from Ohio actually got something to fly!?! There were so many things that were brand new to people a hundred years ago, things that would have tangible affects on their lives. Refrigerators, electric lights, airplanes. Looking back at the last century, I wonder what it would have been like to live through that; to see cars become the primary mode of transportation and progress from the Model T to the Taurus; to watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon live; to see a TV for the first time; to hear the voices of the actors on screen; to put a gallon of milk in the fridge and know it won't be spoiled the next morning.

I wonder if my generation has missed out on being astonished by technology. We've become so used to the leaps and bounds that are so common today that they aren't leaps and bounds...just the natural progression of science. I heard that they mapped the human genome (whatever that means), but what affect does that have on my life? They put an ice and water dispenser in my freezer door, now that's something cool, but not earth shattering. I barely remember the advent of the internet, but I only remember it, I have no idea what life was like before the internet. They invented a car that has no pollutants. Okay, so when are they going to invent a car that runs on air?

We have become jaded, unsatisfied and unimpressed by the technological advances that are daily changing our world. I really think I'm missing out.