No technological progress in 40 years

I was recently watching a series called "Ancient Inventions". It is hosted by one of the guys from Monty Python and is reasonably entertaining and informative. It was amazing to see how many things were invented thousands of years ago, completely lost and forgotten, then re-invented recently.

It got me thinking about all of the technological progress we've made in the past couple hundred years. There have been a number of amazing inventions that have changed the world, like trains, planes, cars, radio, telegraph, telephone, and many others.

But what world-changing inventions and technologies have surfaced since the 60's?

Computers? Ha. That's 1930's technology. The microwave oven? Mobile phones? 1940's.

Solar cells? Fibre optics? That was way back in the 50's.

But what about the Internet? Nope. We were online in 1969 -- 40 years ago.

What life changing technology has been invented since then? It starts getting really thin. Liposuction. Viagra. The iPod. Yeah, truly innovative.

Other than some dabbling in genetics and nanotechnology, all we've done in the past 40 years is make a lot more of the same crap cheaper, smaller and faster.

Maybe there's a ton of really exciting stuff "just around the corner" but I'm getting a bit impatient.

I think it's about time to wake up from our little 40-year nap, and start making some progress.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why do people vote Conservative / Republican?

Image
Add another one to my "things that confuse me" list... Why do average, ordinary people vote for Conservative / Republican / (insert your right-wing party here) politicians? I can see voting for them IF: Your household income is more than $500,000/year You are a majority shareholder in a corporation that employs more than 500 people You are a senior management in a major corporation You have the majority of your net worth invested in energy and "defense" stocks But honestly, unless one or more of the above applies to you, it just doesn't make sense. For the average Joe, voting for Conservative politicians is basically the equivalent to shooting yourself in the foot -- over and over again. Their modis operandi is to systematically underfund and dismantle public institutions, and replace them with private corporations they can profit from. The result is an ever increasing divide between rich and poor, creating a cheap labor force at the bottom (more ...
Read more

Manulife CoverMe insurance isn't worth it

Image
As a small business owner, I have no dental or extended health coverage. So a while ago, I decided to sign up for a Manulife CoverMe policy. Their policies appear to be priced well. The website is nicely done, and the sign up process is entirely online. It gives you the feeling that they really have their stuff together. The problem is that as soon as they get your money, the experience goes sharply downhill. It looks like they invest all of their funds and effort into marketing and getting people to sign up, but as soon as you need service, you're SOL. Their claims process is straight out of the 1980's, requiring you to snail mail or fax a sheet you need to fill out by hand.  You would think they could have managed some sort of electronic method. I was able to easily set up automatic payments from my credit card online, but when I needed to cancel these payments, I had to phone twice, send two different faxes, and they still deducted two extra payments after canc...
Read more

Are you actually hungry?

Image
You hear it all the time. "I'm soooo hungry!"  "I'm starving !" But stop and think for a moment. Are you truly and actually hungry ? Here's one way to tell: Pick a food you really don't like , but something healthy. Like spinach. Or broccoli. Or turnips. It'll be different for everyone. Now pretend that's the only food available. Still want some? If it sounds appetizing and you could see yourself eating it, you're probably hungry. If not, you're not hungry . You're likely upset, bored, or otherwise distracted. In this case, try getting up and doing some sort of physical exercise. You'll probably forget about food altogether and start doing something productive instead!
Read more