We continually hear the rhetoric about how bad things are and they are only getting worse. This is something we are told on the mainstream media, financial new channels, and see it all over social media.
The only problem is that it is untrue.
Anyone who believes this is simple refusing to seriously look at how things are.
For example, on social media, those complaining are on a global platform, accessed by a phone, that allows them to post for nearly no cost. Seriously? Things are worse?
Perhaps it is best to step into a time machine and head back to the 1980s. Or even go further to the 1950s.
Technology Enhances The Wealth of Everyone
Most reading this article are likely doing it on a mobile phone. For those who have these types of devices, do they look like this?
Roughly 35 years ago, this was high tech. It was also very expensive. These devices, new, easily ran into 4 figures. Then we had the airtime plan which, if memory serves me correctly, it was about $1.50 per minute. Of course, the service sucked since coverage was sparse. Nevertheless, this was used by doctors, lawyers, and high end business people.
Today, people in many 3rd world nations have access to smartphones. Forget the devices pictured above, we see phones for $50 or less that are computers.
Speaking of computers, here is what a portable one looked like.
No you probably do not want to know the price of this bad boy either.
It is safe to say a $300 laptop is light years ahead of this computer. Yet again, this was high tech.
You want to bitch about YouTube or how there is nothing on Netflix? How about this?
There was a time before streaming. Actually, there was a time, not too long ago, where cable television was a rarity. This is how we got reception.
Both of my parents had their gall bladders out. My mom had it done in the mid 1970s. She had a 6 inch scar and was in the hospital for 3 days.
Two decades later, my dad had it done. He had 3 dots on his belly and it was done outpatient.
That is how much things changed in just a couple decades.
Things We Take For Granted
The point of this exercise it so highlight how much we take for granted. This is not an old crony article depicting how much more difficult things use to be. Instead, it is to contrast how far things came.
There was a time where people sold encyclopedias door-to-door. Here is what they looked like.
They were not cheap either. A full set could run up to $1,500. Of course, none of the information could be time sensitive since it would be outdated before the printing took place.
Now consider how little information costs today.
The key point is that, as technology advances, prices are forced down. Technology pushes things down to either zero or near zero. This is a point few recall.
However, take a look at this list:
- video
- music
- information
- long distance communication
- classified ads
These are just a few things that had a cost to them at one time yet are now basically free.
Another way to look at this is from the perspective of quality.
Which would you prefer: knee surgery using today's methods or those from the 1960s? How about getting a set of dentures like they had in the 1920s?
No matter how much money John Rockefeller had, he didn't get the quality of medical care that is available even at free clinics.
How about transportation? How long would it take ole JD to go from New York to Texas? There were no planes for much of his life and even when there were, one was taking a major risk.
Today, we can fly around the world in under 24 hours. Also, when it comes to commercial aircraft, they are very safe, rarely crashing.
Things Are Only Accelerating
Due to where we were starting, to make the point we went back 40 years. The technological progress over that time shows a marked difference in society.
What is interesting is the point we are starting out today. As large as the contrast is to the 1980s, we will have a bigger difference in the 2040s as compared to right now. Just picture what GPT-3 will look like by that time.
I can assure you, we were not realistically discussing that technology in 1982. It was amazing to think of mobile phones at that time, even though they were Sci-Fi for most of us.
When we look at healthcare, energy, information technology, recreation, and communications, we see things moving ahead at an incredible pace. It is hard to comprehend where things will be 20 years from now.
My guess is the difference will be as start as us looking back to the 1950s. That is how much society can change in the next few decades.
What this means is the wealth of the world is increasing. When people have orders of magnitude more processing power on their phone than NASA had half a century ago, that should tell us something. When we look at the potential of blockchain and cryptocurrency, we see another level of innovation that will completely disrupt the world around us.
And for one final thought, to all gamers out there, try to picture what it was like during these days:
This was high tech entertainment.
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