From: Spudboy100@aol.com
Date: Sun Jul 14 2002 - 14:43:33 MDT
<<Imagine if a man from 1890 came into the world of 2002 for a little
while... just start to count the ways in which our world would look like pure
sci-fi to him. All the things we take for granted- from the Internet and CD
Players to nuclear energy and weaponry, from airplanes and sattelite
communications to the glowing cities and massive glass and steel buildings,
from quantum mechanics and the Human Genome Project- not to mention the mass
dissemination of cultural artefacts and regional tastes, and such seemingly
simple things as the sheer diversity of culinary options the average city
dweller now has. No, our life spans haven't increased significantly, but
medicine has certainly advanced. Many diseases that, a century ago, were
fatal are now either preventable, cureable, or at the very least treatable-
we've developed a seemingly endless battery of techniques for combatting
disease. >>
Now, you're refering to 112 years, which is considerably different from
1950, where many magazines had people flying around in helicopters, riding
monrails, or conveyor-belt sidewalk. Also such magazines had people living in
massively, different, archetecture-which surely has not happended, Bauhaus
not withstanding. From a 1950's or 60's point of view, most engineers
would've have grooved on dvd players, and satelite communications; but
would've been baffled why people still die from cancer, and why nuclear
energy failed. "What? No Lunar colonies?"
Most of any progress has been in 1 area, electronics or computer electronics
as they reffered to it in the 1970's. All else, isn't even on the radar. (no
pun)
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