Welcome to the World of Tomorrow!
One of my biggest pet peeves is complaints about the pace of technological advance. When I hear people complain about not having a flying car yet or not being able to visit Mars, I become filled with rage. When my dad was born, barely 50 years ago, the Internet didn’t exist! People assumed that computers would just be a new fad, and home computers were a rarity. Now, we wouldn’t be able to do most anything without computers. The future isn’t coming, we’re already here. But no, complain about how you assumed that we would all be living in space now.
Over the past 50 years, we’ve had just as many advancements in the biological fields than had in the tech fields. Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal, was born in 1996! That’s less that ten years before I was born! Now, we have CRISPR, a gene-editing tool that allows us to modify the genomes of organisms. It’s effects aren’t merely theoretical either; in July of 2019, the first sickle-cell disease victim was cured using CRISPR! In the near future, they plan on using it to clone extinct or near-extinct animals. That’s insane! While I’m not saying that we can expect a Jurassic Park-style future, it is amazing that we’ve gone from cloning sheep using live samples to being able to cure genetic diseases and potentially resurrect the dinosaurs. But apparently this is still too slow, at least according to my uncle, who’s upset that he can’t have his own pet sabre-toothed tiger.
What is my point, you may be asking? It’s simple: stop complaining about the pace of innovation! If you aren’t willing or able to make a difference, then you have no right to complain. If you’re upset about not being able to send people to Mars, then get a degree in astrophysics or something, or simply just donate to NASA! You want to make Jurassic Park a reality? Support genetic engineering research! Not only is it very easy to support innovation, this is also one of the best times to do so. Technology has been developing at a breakneck pace for the past 20 years. Most of the people in this class were born when smartphones were in their early stages of development. So stop your griping, and prepare to experience even more innovations in the years to come!
I appreciate this post because I agree with what you are saying. I am actually on the opposite spectrum though, because I find that technology is advancing too fast. I wish we could go back before the cell phone and internet and experience what our parents did. I know this is crazy because innovation in medicine and science have really improved our way of life, but for once I just wish everything could slow down. It makes me sad to never experience life without screens and I wish everything was more simple. I am proud of our advancements and I realize how important they are to our everyday life but I wish everything was not moving at such a fast pace.
ReplyDeleteThis is so interesting. I tend to think that things are moving to fast! I often reminisce of simpler times when I could experience things without the burden of having technology interfering in my life. Although our advances are numerous and help our country move forward, I often find myself wishing we weren't so surrounded by material technology.
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