In 1875 when Max Planck was deciding which path to take, his choices were apparently, mathematics and physics. He was counselled against physics as the belief at the time was that all the major discoveries had been made, and that the life of a physicist would be one of refining and defining the discoveries credited to others. Fortunately, Planck decided that physics was for him, and of course became famous himself for the development of Quantum Theory (which, interestingly Planck himself came to doubt, he was of the opinion that wave mechanics would render quantum mechanics as obsolete - actually, it did the opposite).
As a species, mankind has, after a bit of a slow start, made massive advances in technology, science, medicine, my generation can experience wonders which weren't even considered in my parents generation. I have no doubt that the generations which follow me will be able to say the same.
One such example is the medium by which you are reading this - the IT age. My mother has never so much as touched a computer in her life. I offered to give her my old one when I upgraded, then remembered that mother and technology don't mix. Until she finally got rid of it (last year), I had to change the time on her VCR twice a year. I bought her a DVD player which I think has been used twice. Both times by me, when I was staying the night there. I was only able to persuade her that CDs were an improvement on tapes when I bought her a CD player for her birthday about 5 years ago (and then I got a phone call from her the next day saying it was broken - not only had she put the CD in upside down, she didn't press it onto the spindle). I'm not having a go at mother, far from it, but she is a prime example of the technology gulf which broaches each generation. I dare say when my mum was younger, she would have had to have persuaded her mother (my granny) about the new-fangled long playing records, and the 'moving pictures'. Ok, I'm exaggerating a little, but not as much as you'd think!
Every time I think about technological development I keep asking myself the same (rhetorical) question - why now? Why was the silicon chip invented when it was? Why not in 1873, or 1606? Why did we have to wait so long to have an electricity grid, especially when there had been a fundamental understanding of electricity for a long time before. Why did it take until 1872 for Nicklaus Otto to invent the 4-stroke internal combustion engine? There had been engines of sorts for decades before then, so why hadn't that leap been made before? And, most importantly, why did the world have to wait until Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989 to get 'the internet' and of course, internet porn (just kidding... what? why are you looking at me like that? Don't judge me!!! I get lonely!).
These thoughts are always followed by "I wonder what will be next". What marvels of technology will the next generation get to experience. Will there come a time where teleportation becomes a reality? Will we find real wormholes which will let us explore deep space? Will the Buffalo Sabres ever win the Stanley Cup? Ok, we are getting too much into fantasy here now!
When I start to ponder questions such as these it is with a sense of wonder tinged with sadness. I consider myself to be lucky to have witnessed and occasionally experienced some phenomenal developments in technology, my family and I have benefited from advances in medicine, we have an understanding of the world, the universe and our place in it, which has been lost to all but the most recent few generations. The ingenuity of the human mind never ceases to inspire awe and wonder. So, what about the sadness. Well, the sadness comes from the realisation that the brevity of human life will stop me from seeing the excitement which will accompany the future. One day we may work out how to teleport (as an aside, were I to have a superpower, that would be mine), one day travel through interstellar space may be as routine as catching a flight today.
It's when I think of things like these that I wish I could believe in reincarnation, that I could convince myself that I may get to experience these wonders, even if I'm not aware of it. Sadly, the rational side of me stops that. I just don't have that faith, and I never will. I can't change that, yet I sometimes feel slight pangs of jealousy directed at those who do have that faith.
The Chinese had a curse - may you live in interesting times. The true curse is, surely, may you live in times of stagnation, of no development, of no new wonders to explore. I am glad I live in interesting times. I'm just sad I won't be around long enough to see more.
No comments:
Post a Comment