After writing yesterday's blog I began thinking about all the new things I have experienced over the years. I even made a post about being Amana Radar Range old. I do remember when we got our first microwave oven. It wasn't in 1967, the first year it was sold at a cost of four hundred and ninety five dollars that much I'm certain of. It was probably 1969 or so when Dad brought home that monstrosity. I remember it had a temperature probe with it and a cookbook. It was going to replace the oven and the stove. I don't believe it got used very much at all. But, it was the latest thing. It may have been the same year I got a transistor radio for my birthday. I remember it being in a black leather case, 9 transistors as I recall.
I remember when Mom got Mr. Coffee. Now that was quite the invention. No more instant coffee. Tasters' Choice freeze dried coffee is the one I remember the most, I think it replaced Sanka. Mr. Coffee changed all that, it was back to Maxwell house because that was good to the last drop. Mr. Coffee was advertised by Joltin' Joe Dimaggio! I recall our first color television too. Quasar, works in a drawer! What an amazing thing that was. I'm old enough to remember when "color television" was advertised as an amenity at motels, along with the magic fingers bed. Modern living at its' finest. Yes, I remember when shows were advertised as being in living color. The Quasar televisions were developed in 1967 according to what I have read but I'm certain we didn't get one until the early 1970's. It was quite an extravagance!
I've seen the rise of the credit card. At first it was just Diners club and American Express. Only the wealthy people had those things. I worked at the gas station and had to fill out those little slips of paper, place them in the machine with the card and slide it across. Then get the signature of the card holder. Today everyone has credit cards or debit cards. It's unusual for someone not to have those. As unusual as not having an e-mail address! And yes, I well remember the days before personal computers. The first ones I ever saw had green screens with white lettering. You had to use DOS. It was an amazing thing to type something on the command line and have that thing respond. I've been here since floppy disc's, cd's and sd cards. I've seen personal computers go from having just a tiny little memory to tetrabytes.
It amazes me when I think about all of that stuff. I'm amazed how we all absorb new technology, new devices so quickly that we forget when we didn't have that. I'm certain there are many more things I could mention that were new since 1953 that I've forgotten about. I do remember buying a "word processors" for my kids when they were in school. It replaced a typewriter. Quite the modern convenance it had a built-in dictionary and used a closed in ribbon cartridge. Just snap a new cartridge in place when the ink ran out. A big improvement over threading that old ribbon through. And I thought the IBM selectric typewriter was fast! That new device processed your words! All of that is gone now, replaced by the personal computer attached to a printer. We have come a long way since setting type was the only method of printing a document. Guttenberg? Hah, HP produced the first ink jet printers in 1976.
I guess it is all a sign of aging when the newest inventions become nostalgia. It happens at an ever increasing speed. Einstein and his theory of relativity may have to be revised. Did this all begin with the industrial revolution? I remember the teachers making a big deal out of that in history class. I was taught it began in about 1840, really taking off after that. The industrial revolution was changing the way man lives! Generally thought of as a good thing, it is progress after all. All the labor saving devices, the speed of production and advances in medicine and machines! Guttenberg lived during the 1400's and his method of printing wasn't replaced until 1976. Since 1976 ink jet has been replaced by laser jet and development continues. Setting type is something nostalgic, a quaint pastime seen in historical recreations. So would turning the crank on a telephone to notify the operator you want to make a call. No, I'm not that old but do remember having to tell the operator what number I wanted and to ask for the long distance operator. I remember asking for, time and charges.
I've read where today we live in the "information" age. That has replaced the industrial revolution. Well, the industrial revolution had a good run anyway, a lot of advances were made. It's uncertain what the purpose of the information age is. I mean what are we supposed to do with all this information? Maybe it could spark a new industrial revolution, made things better than they are. Is that what Artificial Intelligence is going to do? A sort of Spock like entity that operates solely without emotional attachment. AI always makes the best possible choice for the majority of the people. The needs of the many outweighing the needs of the one! That certainly would create a lot of unrest with certain demographics! An age of information. "What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence, a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it." - Herbert Simon (1916 - 2001) American Political Scientist, Economist and Psychologist I just read where some astronomers say the Age of Aquarius began in 2012. I remember when the fifth dimension said it was dawning in 1969. Is that this information age?
No comments:
Post a Comment