by Ron Busby

Created on: July 15, 2008   Last Updated: September 12, 2008

Long gone are the days of having to walk to the television to turn a dial to change channels. I remember, and I am not all that old, when TV had 3 channels not counting PBS and UHF, if you were lucky. The old advertisement, "its ten o'clock, do you know where your children are?" I think a few of us may remember that one. In the 70's along came cable and 24 hour broadcasting. Little did we know what a monster of a medium this would lead to.

When I think about it now my children ages 18 to 14, have never known a world without remote control. Seems trivial I know but it is sort of a big deal. The advancements in technology over the last 20 or so years are mind boggling if you think about it.

What happened to the day when Maxwell Smart was the coolest guy on TV because of his shoe phone? Now everyone carries a cell phone. When I graduated in 1977 cell phones were like the communicators used in the show "Star Trek." Man oh man, have things changed. It all seems as if had been with us forever. Think about it a young person today knows no other type of world. They can't understand how it used to be a chore to make a phone call. You had to go to where a phone was hard wired into the massive phone trunks, or large groups of lines entwined into a larger cable.

Instant messaging, what was that? More like the old fashioned telegram, or carrier pigeon. Never in my wildest dreams could I have conceived of a world that kept us electronically and instantly in touch with each other. Oh sure in the 80's we got our first glimpse of mobile phones, but they were reserved for the wealthy. Then along came the internet and things started changing at a rapid pace. Sometimes I wonder if we have really tapped into all the applications of this medium, or have we just scratched the surface of what is to come.

What about video games? The big one when I was younger was pong, remember that one. Two bars that acted as paddles and a blip that was the ball. You hit it back and forth and we thought that was absolutely the coolest thing ever. Now try some of those Xbox or Play station games and you will flip. Of course our kids only know the new latest high tech, extremely visual games that are on the market today.

The technology advancement in law enforcement alone is enough to blow your mind. Imagine those of us old enough to remember black and white TV's, are you one of them? The special effects that computers have allowed in filmmaking, is nothing short of miraculous.

The world has definitely changed and the debate is; is this good for society as a whole? I would have to say yes, but also wonder if this much change can happen in my short 49 years, what is in store for my grandchildren? Was the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey, a warning of things to come? What about the Matrix, or even The Terminator? Will machines be the enemy of man in the future? Only time will tell.

The future has always been a form of entertainment for us humans, going back to "Buck Rogers" in the 50's. Only time will tell if we has a human race will develop such intelligent machines that thinking will no longer be required of us, after all that is why we have computers.

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