A few days ago, I was scrolling on Facebook, because really what else is it good for?
Someone posted a photograph of their grandparents, and children before they left for California during the Great Depression.
The kids were grinning and having a good time hamming it up for the camera. The adults looked like they’d been chewing on lemons, all weathered and grim-faced.
Story went that the family’s move to California was rough, like trying to keep a Model T on the road while driving through a desert dust storm with no water. Somehow they not only made it but grew and thrived.
Living through those hard times made people strong. Gave them a sense of character and responsibility... mostly. An optimistic, full speed ahead attitude helped make society improve.
So much has changed for the better since the family in the picture set out westward to make a better life. After being disciplined and going through unimaginable hardship, being tempered by war and realizing that they never would allow themselves or their families to go through those experiences again, the world has become a better place because of their inventions and breakthroughs.
We today are the beneficiaries.
For the last 90 years, our civilization has progressed at a rate unseen in human history. We have gone from a time when horses were the primary source of power to where we are today with lots of power conveniences.
What seemed unfathomable to the family in the photograph is now commonplace. For example, we have taken it for granted that we now have medicines that can wipe out maladies that have plagued people since the beginning of time.
We are better equipped, but we have to remain ever-vigilant. We have been places that prior generations feared to go because of superstition. Controlling the previously uncontrollable with technology has taken what was once deadly to a level that has eased suffering.
We live better today than kings of the not-so-distant past.
The palace of Versailles was torturous compared to a modern apartment.
The palace didn’t have heat or air conditioning. French King Louis XVI bathed in perfume because water was an excellent source of cholera.
Most people today live in a place that has access to hot and cold running water, plumbing, electricity, and Wi-Fi faster than our attention spans. There is a private room in our home where we can go to relieve and clean ourselves. Hell, a hot shower was unthinkable for a person in their house until 50 odd years ago.
Some of us don’t do a thorough job of cleaning ourselves in my opinion, but let’s move forward.
According to Investopedia, where I live in the U.S., there are fifty million millionaires.
Many of those have leveraged technology to achieve their financial security.
They work hard and are as frugal as past generations, but they work smarter. It’s the largest concentration of wealth in human history.
There are many ways of transit that are relatively inexpensive. Crossing the country today takes only a few hours compared to many days of slowly traversing the landscape in a wagon.
Cars have progressed from the driver having to be a power weight-lifter to turn the steering wheel, to power steering, to now, automatic steering. Some new cars don’t even need drivers.
Power windows and being able to unlock and start the car remotely would’ve been straight up wizardry only a few decades ago.
And then there’s entertainment.
During the days of kings and queens and the royal court, only the wealthy had music to take them away.
At one time books were our greatest diversion. A world where we could escape whenever we had the chance. Radio combined music and stories then advertisers added politics to the playlist.
Movies and television came along. There was no escape from the influence.
The Romans had the Colosseum and the circus. We have sports to keep us pacified. Media became a way to amuse the public and also keep them distracted and docile.
The internet arrived to provide information, but it seems to be mainly used to provide many forms of pornography. Fourteen-year-old boys’ attention spans would never be the same. The impulses are completely out of any sensible control.
Now, through the magic of technology the Metaverse. It’s a safe space where we’ll be catered to. A face hugging helmet that traps us in a digital casino where we’re one click away from buying virtual whatever we want with crypto. We’ll never leave our couches in the future.
Outside forces that we’ll never see will dominate our senses. Artificial intelligence will do the work for us. In just a couple of generations after the family in the picture, we now live like decadent and distracted kings.
Humans have never had it so good. It’s a golden age unless somebody unplugs the f*****g server.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit craigtysonadams.substack.com
