Rate of Change

 

I have found myself thinking a lot about yesterday's (Sep 16) post.

I was born in the late 1940s, one of the early Baby Boomers.

The world began changing fairly rapidly with the Industrial Revolution  and the rate of change has only accelerated since then.  I think though that the changes since 1950 have been in many ways staggering.  I don't think humans have ever before had to deal with this much newness happening so quickly.

There were major events in this period, assassinations, wars, uprisings, mass deaths, AIDS, Covid, a devastating tsunami but these are things that humans have always had to cope with. But I''m thinking of technological and scientific things, and some sweeping social movements such as Civil Rights, The Women's Movement, The Gay Movement - not necessarily new ideas but in this period leading to major changes in society.

-When I was very young, in the summers I was not allowed to go swimming or even play with other children- the fear was exposure to polio.  I clearly remember the release of the two polio vaccines.

-There was also the fear of a nuclear war - the first time when humans were realistically capable of of actually destroying the world - if not the physical planet then at least wiping out humans.

-Sputnik, humans in space and landing on the moon, landers on Mars and other places, Voyagers, a flyby of Pluto, the space station, GPS.

-Colour TV, cable TV, VHS and Beta (being able to watch a movie when you chose instead of hoping a favourite would maybe show up on the late show), 33 1/3 LPs, CDs, DVDs, streaming services. Microwave ovens!

-Computers not just in government, universities and large corporations but in small businesses and then in homes and laptops and cell phones and now in just about everything - cars, appliances, doorbells.

-I went to university in the late 60s and early 70s - calculations were done on paper using slide rules and log tables.  Early calculators were forbidden in exam rooms.

-The Internet.  This still amazes me at times.  I lived in the age where you were lucky if you had a home encyclopedia- otherwise you went to the library.  Now if you and your friends have a question while at dinner you use your phone to find the answer in seconds.  Bills paid, forms filed, online ordering, social media.  AI.

-Genetics.  DNA, the triplet code, the Human Genome Project, gene editing, new insights into disease.

-Medicine. Lens implants to replace cataracts, laparoscopic surgeries, a huge number of new drugs.  Vaccines for flu, and Covid, and shingles, and pneumonia etc.  New cancer treatments. 

These are huge changes and they have happened very quickly.  Young people now have never known a world without computers or instant access to friends and information and entertainment.

So I think old people like me who are somewhat turning away from "the new" are not doing so just because of their age but also because they are worn out coping with rapid (and accelerating) change.

People growing up in this world have always lived with rapid change. They expect it.  Perhaps their brains are wired differently than those of we Boomers because of it.