I had a thought on the way to work today. What if this is it? I'm picturing a world 20 years down the line where you are trying to explain to people that there used to be things called phones that allowed you to talk to people anywhere on Earth - and they could also take pictures - and imagining the incredulous looks on people's faces who have never known such technology. It has been our fortunate experience over the last sixty years or so to experience a technology boom like no other in history. But if history has taught us anything in the past, its that we shouldn't get too comfortable.
I don't mean this to be a doom and gloom piece. This wasn't a fearful response to some news story or worry that Global Warming is real. I'm not really worried about a nuclear holocaust or asteroid wiping us all out. Such fears are hardly helpful and really, there's nothing that can be done about them anyway. I was simply idly speculating on whether this is to be humanities golden age (until the next golden age, that is).
Of course, it begs the question about what our technology has really done for us. I imagine that the post-golden age crowd are going to be fairly unimpressed with descriptions of cable TV or computers or the internet or i-phones. They are going to be more impressed with the fact that we had refrigeration and water (even in the desert!) and vehicles that could go 400 miles in one day.
There is no guarantee that technology will continue to get more advanced. We are one eruption away from grounding most air travel, for instance. And a good solar flare could wipe out telecommunications.
In all this speculation I realized that the one reason we have enjoyed such a prosperous time period has been entirely because the United States has been the super power of the world for the last 60 years. We have promoted intellectual freedom and commerce to the rest of the world and defended it vigorously during that same time. Such values have allowed technologies and communications to flourish. For all of this anti-American talk out there, the rest of the world should recognize our role in shaping the future. They may not always like the intellectual freedom that we support, but I guarantee they like its results. It is those results which make us the envy of the world - not our might, but our rights. Hopefully, as long as we remember that, and the rest of the world understands it, this Golden Age will continue for years and decades and centuries to come.
2 comments:
Well, I think your last paragraph says it all, with one addition I'd make: economic freedom to pursue those dreams for admittedly selfish reasons, i.e to make money. There is a "trickle down" effect, which actually in our case is more than a trickle, but a flood. It's another post for another time, but I think the rest of world covets what we have and have accomplished that they'd rather see us brought low than try to raise themselves up.
(BTW, my Dad was born in 1917 to a world without electric lights, cars, phones, or indoor plumbing. He died in 1993 but during his life consider the miracles he witnessed, including working on the Apollo project to send Man to the moon. Who knows what awaits?
Cheers.
Maybe not all the world, Randall.
Some people look at the problems created by us and don't want any part of us - right or wrong. They'd rather destroy us than allow our "poison" to spread. As much as I love the United States, I have to say that there are many things to hate.
That being said, I think the prevailing mood in the rest of the world is to try and be as successful as us without all the baggage that comes with that. Unfortunately, they usually get the baggage long before they get the success.
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