Monday, March 01, 2010

Amazing

My world would be science fiction to some one living just a century ago. I am trying to imagine if I could even explain it to a counterpart living in 1910.
My home is in Los Angeles, California but last week I commuted to work on a ship sailing the Caribbean.

It takes me hours to make the trip rather than the weeks or months it would take my counterpart to get there.

I fly in an airplane (larger than a train which, in 1910, is the fastest mode of transportation) The Wright Brothers have only discovered motorized flight a few years before.

The ship I work on is almost double the tonnage and triple the size of the Titanic. (Which won't sail for another two years). It accommodates almost four thousand passengers. Double the number on the Titanic.

If my counterpart were on a ship, in his time, the only form of communication would be a radio telegraph. It would be for official use only and limited in range.
On my ship I pass my time "typing" on a device the size of a deck of cards which I carry in my pocket. Although I could use the same device to speak to anyone in person, I choose to send essays instantly through the air to be published on a paper less delivery system available to people all over the world.
How will my future counterpart be conducting business in 2110? I wish I was imaginative enough to venture a guess. I would write it down and become the next Jules Verne who, by the way, died in 1905.

For now I will just try to entertain them again tomorrow night and get back home.

As you were,
Jay
www.monkeyjoke.com

2 comments:

Roomie said...

Okay,
Your mean self just might be around to see and hear all of which you speak in 2110.....
Carry on and enjoy being home in California.....
B&P

Dave Robison said...

I have these same thoughts sometimes but in a more dark arena. I find myself angry when the need calls for me to visit an old cemetery.

I find myself angry looking at gravestones dated in the 1800s and early 1900s, because these people never experienced electricity, the industrial revolution, planes, TV,or the internet. Life kept on going after they died...and I know that when I die, it will still keep on going and I will miss out on the great things after I die and on past 2110.

My fear is not dying, just missing out.