The Future is Now...
It sounds cliche, but it is hard to believe another year has come and gone. One thing to know is that time stops for no one, the river continues to flow downstream. What I find more incredible is that we are coming up on 2011, a year once pictured in our minds as the distant future, full of possibilities. The future is now the present and we continue to move forward in this 21st century. I tried to think of things that really are futuristic in terms of where we were 10 or 20 years ago, and though it may not all be holograms and robots, there are plenty of things that we may take for granted that 20 years ago would have been thought improbable or even impossible.
First, we have the complete saturation of mobile and 'smart' phones. Do you even remember early cell phones? They were the size of bricks and only did what a phone is supposed to: make calls. Now, we have credit card sized devices, capable of a multitude of communications, as well as functionality and entertainment. I mean, you can stream live TV on your little 4" portable screen now. Similarly, can you remember life pre-cell phones? We are so connected and in touch now that I feel many people would just be plain lost without their means of hand-held communique. Our lives are fully dependent on 4 cubic inches of technology.
Next we have the new wave of home entertainment: Wi-Fi internet access, fiber optic cable, DVRs, 3D TVs and cloud based TV services. The ability to download and stream television programming has revolutionized how we view our media. No longer must we gather round the TV at 8 pm sharp or set our VCR to record a scratchy copy of a show. Now shows are on your own schedule, available when you have the time for it. Everything is fast and connected. You used to be the cool house if you had any TV larger than 40". Now you'll need a 100" projector. Also, remember how much those old TVs used to weigh? You needed two other people just to move the set off the stand. Now we have flat panels that hang above your fireplace that can run your 'fireplace' screen app while you talk over Skype to your relative on the other side of the world.
What connects all of this is the proliferation of that series of tubes that connects us all: the internet. Just 10 years ago, we were still dialing up and eagerly anticipating hearing that little .wav file saying 'you've got mail'. Some were already moving on to Netscape and IE, but it really has been in the last few years that everyone young and old, tech and not-so-tech really considered internet access as essential to living in today's world. This technology has connected the everyone, everywhere. We are no longer limited to our state or country for information. We now have the entire globe to work, shop, visit and share with. And all of this is done in the blink of an eye with a click of a mouse. Unfortunately, this instantaneous access has also decreased our patience and tolerances. Productivity is king and we are down to measuring wasted seconds. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it certainly different than it was 10 years ago.
There have also been many advances in science and medicine which are great for humanity, but nothing to visible in terms of being 'futuristic'. We do have a lot more wind turbines and solar panels around the world as we look for alternate energy sources. Total mechanical prostheses aren't here yet, but they are getting close.
I think it easy to lose track of all the progress we have made in the past 20 years since we have become so in tuned with what is right now. The sheer amount of data we are presented with on a day to day basis seems to outweigh years of information gathered before. Now, I am not calling for a need of nostalgia (go watch VH1 for that), but just to keep things in perspective when looking at the past. As technology advances exponentially, I feel it is still important to look at where we were not so long ago and reevaluate what our priorities really are, keeping in mind that we'll be doing it all again soon in just a few years.
On a side note, I think I am going to start a new blog page that hosts my daily links I post on IM. I will post a link when it is up and running.
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