by El Zorro Viejo (aka; Jim)

Back in the middle of the past century, it was felt by many that one of the hallmarks of our form of civilization was the constant decrease in the time it takes to move both material and immaterial "things" from point A to point B. It seemed that the progression beginning with the invention of the steam engine (which made mechanical power portable) and the virtually simultaneous invention of the telegraph that the world was continually growing smaller. This trend continued with the introduction of the the internal combustion engine, telephones, radio, paved highways, airplanes, television, jet aircraft, the Interstate highway system, computers, the Internet and, of course, constant improvements in automobile design. However, over the past quarter century this spurt of invention and creation seems to have played out.

We are still learning how to deal with the Internet and how we can move information from point A to point B even more rapidly. However, the speed of movement of physical objects seems to have reached a plateau or even has declined over the past 25 years. The major improvements to air travel, for instance, have been more in the realm of packing more people/things into a single airplane. In fact, with the demise of the Concorde the fastest mode of transportation has declined back to subsonic levels. Further, the time required to get to airports, and then pass through security before enplaning, has also increased from what was the norm. In urban areas the time required to get from place to place has also, in main, increased.

I don't know if any of this has any special significance in the overall scheme of things. I do think, though, that all of this is indicative of a change in our culture. We are no longer so confident and so willing to envision a future such as was seen the the two World's Fairs held in New York City between 1939 and 1964. In both of those expositions, we were presented with bold visions of the future. The fact that we have not achieved them goes hand in hand, I think, with our current preoccupation with personal comfort. It is time to get going again. Otherwise I do worry for my grandaughter's future.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. ©El Zorro Viejo 2002-2005