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The Awesomeness of Technology

mscriv

mscriv

macrumors 601
Original poster
Aug 14, 2008
4,933
622
Dallas, Texas
Do you ever get struck with awe or just marvel at the technology of today? I was born in the 70's and have pretty much grown up in a period of quick technological advancement. I sometimes ponder how amazing it is that things which seem routine to us today were science fiction to those a few generations before us and would be considered downright magic to those that came before them.

For example, although simple by today's standards, I press a button and instantly my music selection of choice is downloaded, paid for, and ready for my listening enjoyment. I'm old enough to remember having to go to the bank, get some money, go to the record shop, buy the vinyl/cassette/CD and go back home to listen to it. And, not to long ago music could only be enjoyed live because there was no form of recording technology.

This of course is nothing compared to the scientific, medical, and other advancements that have been achieved.

So, am I the only one who thinks about this from time to time? Are there examples of awesome technological advances that strike you in this way?
 
94675.jpg


SkyBall.

Maybe not technology as your thinking, but there was never this kind of ball around when I was growing. From experience, it's the coolest, bounciest, funnest single ball I have ever played with.

The technology is this "secret" rubber formula surrounding compressed air and helium. Too cool. Check the vid:

http://www.vimeo.com/2848699
 
mscriv said:
Do you ever get struck with awe or just marvel at the technology of today? I was born in the 70's and have pretty much grown up in a period of quick technological advancement. I sometimes ponder how amazing it is that things which seem routine to us today were science fiction to those a few generations before us and would be considered downright magic to those that came before them.

For example, although simple by today's standards, I press a button and instantly my music selection of choice is downloaded, paid for, and ready for my listening enjoyment. I'm old enough to remember having to go to the bank, get some money, go to the record shop, buy the vinyl/cassette/CD and go back home to listen to it. And, not to long ago music could only be enjoyed live because there was no form of recording technology.

This of course is nothing compared to the scientific, medical, and other advancements that have been achieved.

So, am I the only one who thinks about this from time to time? are there examples of awesome technological advances that strike you in this way?
Click to expand...

Nope you are not the only one. I remember when cable TV came out, when TV stations signed off for the night by playing the national anthem, I remember when the VCR came out and the VHS/Betamax battle. I had lots of records, both 33s and 45s. I was born in 1966.
 
I'm only 16, but I'm really surprised about the differences in the computers and tvs I had when I was little compared to the kind I have now. And I do often think about what cool new technologies I'll get to see in my lifetime.
 
I remember punch cards.
I remember working in a hotel where each and every charge was handwritten onto guest folio.
I remember using a telex machine at that hotel.
I remember when we got our TV top cable box, complete with remote control. The remote control was hardwired to the box (not RF, IR, Or BT - a wire!) and you could change channels, but not turn it on or off.
I remember laying out a weekly newspaper using cut-up pieces of paper, hot wax, and sticky tape for the border lines. And then using a PMT camera to take photo of each page to take film to the printer. I know why editors used to use a blue grease pencil.

I'm not that old...!
 
mscriv said:
Do you ever get struck with awe or just marvel at the technology of today?
Click to expand...

Last week I found a decade old jar of peanut butter in our cabinet in the basement, opened it up, and it tasted great... had to be down there since around '87 or earlier... good year for peanuts!
 
I'm young, born in 1986, so I grew up with it, so nothing really amazes me.

The only time I get amazed is when I see things like advertisements for old computers advertising how $3,000 for a 50 MB hard drive and 512 KB of RAM was an excellent deal, or when I hear interesting trivia like a pocket calculator is more powerful than the computers on board the lunar landing module.
 
If you think the last 20 years was astounding, hold on to your hats for the next 20. We are only in the beginning of our technological acceleration right now.
 
NT1440 said:
If you think the last 20 years was astounding, hold on to your hats for the next 20. We are only in the beginning of our technological acceleration right now.
Click to expand...

I disagree; decline in physics and science majors in higher education and decline of overall science funding in the United States means technological development will end soon! Good news though: tremendous increase in sweaty athletes majoring in health means our Superbowl is secured for the near future!

US Basic Science in Decline
January 15, 2008
Science Blog
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/us-basic-science-decline-15233.html

America's Decline in Science
Published Sept 6, 2008
Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/id/157514
 
IntheNet said:
I disagree; decline in physics and science majors in higher education and decline of overall science funding in the United States means technological development will end soon! Good news though: tremendous increase in sweaty athletes majoring in health means our Superbowl is secured for the near future!

US Basic Science in Decline
January 15, 2008
Science Blog
http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/us-basic-science-decline-15233.html



America's Decline in Science
Published Sept 6, 2008
Newsweek
http://www.newsweek.com/id/157514
Click to expand...
Wtf? You realize theres a whole world besides the USA right ?
 
NT1440 said:
Wtf? You realize theres a whole world besides the USA right ?
Click to expand...

Not to mention that a lot of science, agriculture, and mathematics was learned from those who developed a lot of the methods in Arabic and South American cultures, thousands of years prior to the United States even existing.

In fact, the European countries were stifled by religious oppression for a VERY long time. Believed the earth was round? Condemned. Used optical illusions? Condemned. Used science to disprove religious beliefs? Condemned.

Thank the Church for all it's held back. What kind of tech would we have right now if it were for thousands of years of scientific oppression?
 
At 18, I find myself amazed at the change in technology from when I was a kid, and from research I've done on the history of computers and technology. I know I'm still pretty young, but that gets me excited for what's in the future... Anyway, one of the things I look at from when I was a kid is the games I've been playing. As a little kid I played Wolfenstein 3D, and still do occasionally, brings back memories. I see the blocky graphics that were considered grear when it was released, another game I played a lot was Quake, another id Software game, from 1996. However, a game I play now, called Crysis has amazing graphics, and it's just one of the things that really helps puts in perspective how technologically advanced we've become over my lifetime. I can't wait to see what technology comes around in the future!
 
Don't forget technology in the medical field. IIRC, anyone who dies before they are 70 is considered a premature death currently. If today's trends continue, anyone born since 2000 should easily reach the 100 year mark (on average). Means I can look forward to reaching something over 70 or even 80 at a minimum (on average).
 
My parents first computer came with 66MHz Pentium, 500MB HDD, 8MB RAM and pretty much a first of a kind CD-ROM. I still have the thing, it's an HP Pavilion (don't know model) and it still runs as day 1.

My first computer carried a slot loading Pentium 2 300MHz CPU card with an awesome 66MHz FSB and max capacity of (2*64MB)128MB RAM (came with (2*16MB) 32MB installed. Oh did I mention the huge 8GB 4200rpm hard drive?
 
Everytime I see an iPod Touch I feel like that. My first computer had a 12" amber monitor and ran at 12MHz with dual floppies and 20 years later this incredibly thin device is in the palm of your had with full color, video, music wireless networking and a touch screen. I wonder how long before the iPhone is the same form factor.
 
jav6454 said:
My first computer carried a slot loading Pentium 2 300MHz CPU card with an awesome 66MHz FSB and max capacity of (2*64MB)128MB RAM (came with (2*16MB) 32MB installed. Oh did I mention the huge 8GB 4200rpm hard drive?
Click to expand...

I would have been thrilled to have that as my first computer. My first computer had 2MB of RAM, 16MHz processor, and a 40MB harddrive. Purchased in January of 1991.
 
See I think about things like flash drive. Tonight I went out and bought a new 8g Flash drive for 20 bucks. 4-5 years ago I paid 30 for a 256meg flash drive.
 
ucfgrad93 said:
I would have been thrilled to have that as my first computer. My first computer had 2MB of RAM, 16MHz processor, and a 40MB harddrive. Purchased in January of 1991.
Click to expand...

Think of it this way. The 1st Gen iPhone as a computer, is much more powerful than our first computers.

412Mhz ARM CPU UnderClocked v 300MHz (me) v 16Mhz (you)
128MB RAM v 32MB (me) v 2MB (you)
8GB NAND Flash SSD-like v 8GB 4200rpm (me) v 40MB ????rpm (you)
GPU v our computers didn't even have a GPU!!!
 
How long has it been since we've had...
... computers (of any form)?
... the electrical grid?
... telephones?
... the ability to record and playback sound and music?
... cars?
... flying vehicles like airplanes?

We take all that for granted, as we fly in planes across the ocean while listening to recorded music that we downloaded from the internet and playback on our portable cell phones.

It was not that long ago at all that NONE of that stuff existed. Imagine how different the world was then. Can we possibly imagine how different it will be if the trend continues?
 
jav6454 said:
Think of it this way. The 1st Gen iPhone as a computer, is much more powerful than our first computers.

412Mhz ARM CPU UnderClocked v 300MHz (me) v 16Mhz (you)
128MB RAM v 32MB (me) v 2MB (you)
8GB NAND Flash SSD-like v 8GB 4200rpm (me) v 40MB ????rpm (you)
GPU v our computers didn't even have a GPU!!!
Click to expand...

The iPhone's CPU is almost as fast as the Powerbook G3's were.
 
I don't feel as amazed as I did when SJ came back to Apple and that company came out with stuff way ahead of its competition.

Today, Apple is still good but only just a little bit ahead of others. There will probably never be a time again akin to when Apple blew away the music industry with the iPod and iTunes store. This one-two punch will live as Steve's comeback legacy to greatness.
 
63dot said:
I don't feel as amazed as I did when SJ came back to Apple and that company came out with stuff way ahead of its competition.

Today, Apple is still good but only just a little bit ahead of others. There will probably never be a time again akin to when Apple blew away the music industry with the iPod and iTunes store. This one-two punch will live as Steve's comeback legacy to greatness.
Click to expand...

I consider the iPhone to be just as much, if not more, of a leap forward as the iPod was.
 
I still remember it was 2002 that phones were using non-color screens.. And that Nokia 8250 I was using was the "in" thing.. :eek:
 
Onizuka said:
Thank the Church for all it's held back. What kind of tech would we have right now if it were for thousands of years of scientific oppression?
Click to expand...

There are times when and where science needs a leash since, without moral judgment, science can be dangerous! Human cloning, stem cell generation, and nuclear weapon development, not to mention the whole field of chemical/biological weapon generation; all threaten mankind's existence. Indeed, science needs to be held back, at times, due to its rush to proceed without moral and/or ethical reasoning. So too, pure science, without moral education as a balance, is destructive (for example, instructing evolution theory absent from creation theory in the classroom). Yes, at times we have to keep science on a leash...
 
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