The Times They Are A-Changin' - or are they?

[VegasGeorge]

I'm in a reflective mood this morning. I've been thinking about my maternal grandfather, George Simms. My best recollections of him are from my childhood, in the middle to late 1950s. At that time, he would have been in his seventies. So at 69, I am quickly approaching his age at that time. He would sit with me, and tell me stories from his childhood. That would be the 2nd decade before the turn of the century, say 1880 to 1890. I can't help but think of all the changes he witnessed during his life, and compare that to the changes I've witnessed during mine.

When he was old enough to appreciate the larger world around him, "high tech" would have meant "steam." Almost all transportation was by horse, or horse drawn vehicles. Hard surface roads were a rarity. Commercial shipping was still largely under sail, and many ships were still constructed with wood. There were no airplanes. Ice was delivered each day for people to put in their "icebox" at home. Electricity and telephones were only in the cities. And Americans still universally thought of themselves as citizens of their home State, rather than of the nation. My grandparents were proud Iowans.

So much changed during my grandfather's lifetime! He lived to see jet airplane passenger service and barely missed seeing the moon landing on TV. In short, his world had changed almost completely. It didn't look, or sound, or smell the same. Just about everything was new in his lifetime.

Now, thinking about my own life thus far, I see a startling contrast. The outside appearance.of the world today isn't all that much different than it was in the 1950s, during my childhood. Paved roads, gasoline driven vehicles, jet planes, TV, are all basically the same. The difference between a 1955 Chevy, and a 2014 Chevy is nowhere near as striking as the difference between a horse drawn carriage and a 1955 Chevy. Of course there have been all kinds of incremental improvements along the way, but people today still live and work and play in much the same way as they did in the 1950s. Outward appearances would suggest that progress has slowed dramatically from that of my grandfather's time.

Of course, there are notable exceptions. Nuclear technology, and computer technology are two big ones. But they haven't altered the outward appearance of our world the way those inventions during my grandfather's life did. So, it feels to me as if there's been a lull, a break in our headlong progress toward modernity. Perhaps it's the effect of the two world wars. But, did they spur on the development during my grandfather's time, or have they had the effect of blunting development during my time? In any event, it's a fun thing to contemplate, and it brings up all sorts of fascinating ideas.

 

[mds725]

Of course, there are notable exceptions. Nuclear technology, and computer technology are two big ones. But they haven't altered the outward appearance of our world the way those inventions during my grandfather's life did. So, it feels to me as if there's been a lull, a break in our headlong progress toward modernity. Perhaps it's the effect of the two world wars. But, did they spur on the development during my grandfather's time, or have they had the effect of blunting development during my time? In any event, it's a fun thing to contemplate, and it brings up all sorts of fascinating ideas.

I disagree. One may have to look harder to find differences than one did between 1900 and 1950, but just in the past 20 years there have been major visual changes in the landscape. Wireless technology has put computers in people's hands. Today everyone walks around looking at a handheld device. In coffee shops, people look at computers, tablets, and phones instead of books and newspapers. In offices, people look at computer screens instead of typewriter keyboards and ledgers. ATMs are everywhere. Flatscreen technology has put large screen televisions everywhere, where there used to be static signs. Many of the changes are experiential - we can get ahold of people now whenever we want , by phone, voicemail, email and text messages, whereas when I was a kid if nobody answered the phone, you just called back later and hoped for the best. People can summon taxis and food by touching a few buttons on a smartphone app. People can skype. The things that one can see now that one wouldn't have seen 20 years ago are smaller and maybe not as obvious as paved roads and jet planes, but they're there and they've just as profoundly changed the way we live our lives.

 

[mm stan]

Progress and Technology keeps evolving... would I prefer the simple life when I was a kid? hmmm and even education has advanced tooo
We keep thinking back then was the simple life was good and we made do, but it was actaully harder..with today's progress and technology is a
much easier life, but can be more one complicated too, but with so much more choices than the past....can you imagine the future when we are all gone
if man does not damage all the natural resources we have

 

[coolkayaker1]

Every example of the internet bringing people together, or finding others with mutual interests, is lost in the overwhelming milieu of isolation from family and community, detachment from other human beings sitting immediately to one's right and left, and viewing the problems of others with a distant eye through a narrow lens.

 

[VegasGeorge]

I disagree. One may have to look harder to find differences than one did between 1900 and 1950, but just in the past 20 years there have been major visual changes in the landscape. Wireless technology has put computers in people's hands. Today everyone walks around looking at a handheld device. In coffee shops, people look at computers, tablets, and phones instead of books and newspapers. In offices, people look at computer screens instead of typewriter keyboards and ledgers. ATMs are everywhere. Flatscreen technology has put large screen televisions everywhere, where there used to be static signs. Many of the changes are experiential - we can get ahold of people now whenever we want , by phone, voicemail, email and text messages, whereas when I was a kid if nobody answered the phone, you just called back later and hoped for the best. People can summon taxis and food by touching a few buttons on a smartphone app. People can skype. The things that one can see now that one wouldn't have seen 20 years ago are smaller and maybe not as obvious as paved roads and jet planes, but they're there and they've just as profoundly changed the way we live our lives.

Well, I don't think we disagree at all. I wrote that "computer technology" is one major exception. And your comments seem to focus on that. However, we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that the computer tech info age revolution is very young. It wasn't here during most of my life. So, perhaps it signals a rebirth of innovation, ending that "lull" I wondered about. Who knows?

 

[Down Up Dick]

Yes, VG, the times they are a changin'. They always have, and they always will. And old men (people) have sat around fires and fireplaces and stoves and computers whining about how good it usta be. I, for one, think the old simple times of my youth were very much better, but for me to explain why would only bring down ridicule upon my shoulders (silly, grouchy old decrepit man), so I won't bother to do it.

Some things are an improvement, of course, but there's an awful lot of really stupid, injurious stuff going on too. I think, most of the time, that the bad stuff really out weighs the good stuff by far. But that's only a silly old man's opinion. My comments sound pretty depressing even to me, but this thread depresses me.

When I was in college, I was planning to write for a living, and I did write a novel (unpublished) for my Master's thesis which passed. But, later when I began the attempt, I found that I really had nothing positive to say about anything. Everything I wrote turned sour and depressing. Little by little I gave up. I think life today is vapid and sterile and mostly very inane.

There's only music and Guiness left. ld:

 

[VegasGeorge]

I found that I really had nothing positive to say about anything. I found that I really had nothing positive to say about anything. Everything I wrote turned sour and depressing. Little by little I gave up.:

The old adage personified: “If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all." You should have moved to New York and entered a career as a Broadway Show critic.

 

[Down Up Dick]

I think my depressing whining put other commenters off of your thread -- sorry, but I hate my golden years. ld:

 

[katysax]

Through most of human history technology has been remarkably stagnant. you can point to some examples of engineering like the pyramids. But basically the world's economy up to the early 1800s was mostly based on subsistence farming. There have been rises and falls, but the biggest peak in technical development until the 1800's was at the height of the Roman Empire, and even then it was nowhere near where we are now. Starting in the 18th century we broke out of that pattern and technology has taken us considerably higher than ever before. But we don't know if we'll continue to grow or regress. It seems to me there are a lot of regressive forces at work right now.

At 63 I have often thought too, that the world my Grandparents were born in was dramatically different from today. A person living in 1900 and dropped in 1950 or 1960 would be overwhelmed and see so many things they never saw. A person living in 1960 and dropped in the world today would have expected the changes - the world they lived in had cars, airplanes, computers (albeit not home computers) and there was an expectation of progress. If anything I think they'd be shocked about how much progress we haven't made and how much we are regressing.

Down Up Dick I do find that as I get older the world looks grimmer. It is hard for me sometimes to know if it's my age - youth requires hope, or if it is simply true that things are getting a lot worse. The only thing any of us can do is live in the moment and appreciate the good things in our lives.

 

[Down Up Dick]

Well, ubulele, for once we are in agreement, though you are bothered by today's political and financial and environmental problems, and I am more bothered by the social problems we have. And our Government, instead of working to solve our problems, is making them worse. The outrageous racial and sexual laws passed are unbelievably stupid, and yet no one seems to care at all. People today are selling their votes to anyone who provides handouts. Everyone seems to be on the take. The unions, the college students, the illegal aliens and many many more groups are demanding more and more without caring about what it's doing to our economy. I think the good life is gonna choke us to death. I find this thread to be very depressing. It's really bringing me down. I think I'll quit it.

 

[Rllink]

When it comes to reflection, I try to avoid it. I'm 64 and these last four years have been the best of my life. Many of my life long friends have settled into a life of looking back and I have strayed from them. One example is my sister, who was an all state softball pitcher in high school. Ever since, we have to go back there whenever we get together. She turned 60 this year, and her birthday party was a softball cake themed party. It is the high point of her life. It is sad, because I feel like, that at least in her mind, she has not accomplished anything of note since, and frankly, maybe she hasn't. But to end this before it becomes a rant, I feel like folks are done, when they quit looking forward and start looking back. Me, I'm not near done yet. All I have left is in front of me, not behind.

 

[Rllink]

Well, ubulele, for once we are in agreement, though you are bothered by today's political and financial and environmental problems, and I am more bothered by the social problems we have. And our Government, instead of working to solve our problems, is making them worse. The outrageous racial and sexual laws passed are unbelievably stupid, and yet no one seems to care at all. People today are selling their votes to anyone who provides handouts. Everyone seems to be on the take. The unions, the college students, the illegal aliens and many many more groups are demanding more and more without caring about what it's doing to our economy. I think the good life is gonna choke us to death. I find this thread to be very depressing. It's really bringing me down. I think I'll quit it.

Dick, embrace your future. Don't be depressed. At your age, they can't do anything to you. Just step around it, smile, and keep going. Make the best of what you have left and don't let anything get in the way.

 

[VegasGeorge]

Oh wow! I'm really sorry to have started something that's a downer for some of you. That was never my intention. Myself, I'm an eternal optimist type. Although I see things falling apart sicially,politically, economically, etc., I always think newer and better is just around the corner. I firmly believe that if we all just live life a day at a time, doing our best to be true to our own inner spirit, we can all find peace and contentment with whatever comes our way.

But all that wasn't the intended subject of my original post here. I'm just puzzled by what I perceive as a gigantic spike in human technological development during my grandfather's time, proceeded by centuries of stagnation, and followed by a dramatically slower rate of change. And, I never intended to compare quality of life between the eras.

 

[Freeda]

I think it is interesting. Though I am under 40, I grew up outside of my generation. We had an outhouse well into the 80s, for example.

Not sure what comes next, but I look forward to it.

 

[Down Up Dick]

When it comes to reflection, I try to avoid it. I'm 64 and these last four years have been the best of my life. Many of my life long friends have settled into a life of looking back and I have strayed from them. One example is my sister, who was an all state softball pitcher in high school. Ever since, we have to go back there whenever we get together. She turned 60 this year, and her birthday party was a softball cake themed party. It is the high point of her life. It is sad, because I feel like, that at least in her mind, she has not accomplished anything of note since, and frankly, maybe she hasn't. But to end this before it becomes a rant, I feel like folks are done, when they quit looking forward and start looking back. Me, I'm not near done yet. All I have left is in front of me, not behind.

Rllink, it's very normal for old people to look back at their "real" golden years, and for young people, who don't have much, to look forward to when they'll be more successful.

My youth was outstanding -- music, girls and lots of fun. My adult life in the USAF was mostly interesting, and I got to travel a lot which was enjoyable. My old age is less so. I'm in good health for an old guy, but little by little there's more and more things that I can't do well. And I know that those things like eyesight, hearing (important to a musician) and general health are only gonna get worse. Look forward--I don't think so.

A man fell off of a thirty story building. People heard him saying as he fell. "Well, so far, so good, so far so good, so far so good . . ."

Keep on strummin'. ld:

 

[Down Up Dick]

Oh wow! I'm really sorry to have started something that's a downer for some of you. That was never my intention. Myself, I'm an eternal optimist type. Although I see things falling apart sicially,politically, economically, etc., I always think newer and better is just around the corner. I firmly believe that if we all just live life a day at a time, doing our best to be true to our own inner spirit, we can all find peace and contentment with whatever comes our way.

But all that wasn't the intended subject of my original post here. I'm just puzzled by what I perceive as a gigantic spike in human technological development during my grandfather's time, proceeded by centuries of stagnation, and followed by a dramatically slower rate of change. And, I never intended to compare quality of life between the eras.

If one closes his eyes and his mind to what's going on around him, of course he will be happier. "Happy as a clam" as they say. People today with their iPhones and computers and air conditioned cars don't ever have to come into contact with any one/thing troublesome. If one doesn't listen to the radio or watch television or certainly talk to anyone about the bad things, he will indeed be happy as a clam -- until our good, safe lives go down the tubes.

Keep on strummin'. ld:

 

[mm stan]

You yourself and only you are in charge of your own destiny. As you age some get more
Optimistic, and some pessimistic. ..you choose your own path..and some get strong-willed
And never change

 

[Down Up Dick]

mm stan, I couldn't disagree more. As one ages, time and the times are in charge of his destiny. Some are optimistic, and some are pessimistic and some are realistic. One does choose his own path, but it gets more and more limited. A lot of an ageing person's happiness depends on what his early life was like. If he was an active, happy-go-lucky person, his "golden" years might be very different. He can only do the best he can. ld:

 

[Down Up Dick]

I think I ruined this thread. It wasn't about old age; it was about changes in time. My bad. Sorry. I'm outa here.ld:

 

[coolkayaker1]

You yourself and only you are in charge of your own destiny. As you age some get more
Optimistic, and some pessimistic. ..you choose your own path..and some get strong-willed
And never change

As usual, I agree with brother mmstan about the choices one makes as they age.

A step further: optimism and pessimism are choices influence by one's mobility in the home and in the community, which in turn is dependent on one's state of bowel and bladder continence.