We did it
Look at all we’ve done with technology. Now, let’s live.
Humanity has accomplished a lot with technology. More of us should be exploring the human frontier that technology has opened for us.
Just in my lifetime, I’ve seen:
- Watching movies at home, on demand, become a thing, with the popularization of the VCR. Now you can watch nearly any movie you want instantly.
- Phone books become obsolete. You used to use them to look up phone numbers of an old friend, a local business, or as a map to get somewhere. Now, you can reconnect with anyone, you don’t have to randomly choose a business from the Yellow Pages without knowing anything about them, and Google Maps will tell you exactly how to get there.
- Video-calling become a thing. And it’s nothing like that weird booth in Pee Wee’s Playhouse.
- Books become democratized. Not ALL of human knowledge is available for free on the Internet, but a large portion of it is. We used to have an Encyclopedia in my house, and an extra little book would come every year with the updates. I’ve decided not to move before just because all of the books were such a pain in the ass to pack. Now, you can buy most books instantly, and you can publish your own just as fast.
- Music: just like books. You don’t have to lug your tape collection with you everywhere you go.
- And on, and on, and on. Cheap air travel, rent out people’s apartments, sell your shit with Amazon fulfillment.
All of this stuff, and we’re still trying “innovate?” Yes, self-driving cars everywhere would be cool, and save a lot of lives, but it won’t be of much use if society crumbles before we figure it out.
The other day, a cab driver here in Colombia complained about how all of his neighbors used to know each other and look out for each other, and now nobody gives a shit about anyone but themselves. Sound familiar?
The crazy thing is this guy was talking about Colombia in the 80’s — you know, the Colombia you see on Narcos, not the much tamer, more peaceful, modern-day Colombia.
I have no charts or graphs or research to present to you, except my own biased experience, but I think we should start a new world holiday. It’s called “we did it” day. We can all collectively pat ourselves on the back, and take a day to acknowledge everything humanity has accomplished.
Then, we can have a big brainstorming session about all of the things we didn’t realize until now that we could do. Sell all of your shit with Amazon fulfillment, book a cheap flight on Kayak and go live in another country while freelancing on Upwork. You can bring your book and music collection with you. Then, use Google Translate to fall in love with someone who doesn’t speak your language. If, after all of that, you’re still bored, then you can play Pokemon Go.
