The Myth of Future Shock

Excerpt from “Why Knot?” Buy the book at Amazon

Many people presume that today the pace of change is ever-increasing, making it ever more stressful for us to adapt. But, in fact, the changes we experience today are fine-tuning — adding functions to a smart phone, watching TV shows and movies streaming over the Internet instead of broadcast or on DVDs. In contrast, the changes that occurred in the 19th and early 20th centuries were fundamental and disruptive. The Pony Express lasted just 18 months and then was made obsolete by the transcontinental railway. Locomotives, automobiles, electric lights, telegraph, telephone, radio, photography, sound recording, movies: an explosion of inventions radically changed everyday life.

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