How often do we hear ourselves speaking and perhaps complaining about how the world is changing, as if it were new and unprecedented? The truth is, there has never been a time when the world was not changing. As for the new stuff, no, it’s not. When it comes to unprecedented things, I say yes, based on the speed and scale of change.
Probably everyone has heard the statistics about how rapidly the world is changing, the total amount of information is doubling more and more rapidly. Starting in 1 AD, it took 1,500 years for the amount of information to double.
Over the next 400 years, it quadrupled again. By World War II, it took 25 years for information to double. In the mid-1980s, it was doubling every year, and now, if you believe the people who measure and report such things, it happens several times a day.
I think most of it is just “data” or very small specialized advances. Otherwise, we would not be able to recognize the world from week to week. But there are also big, far-reaching changes that affect large parts of society.
Looking back, examples of technological developments that have become pervasive in people’s lives include air travel, microwave ovens, and cell phones.
The sun has been a topic of discussion and commentary ever since the first Sunday in November, when it went “back” by an hour due to daylight saving time, with people complaining that it feels like bedtime when it’s only 6:30 p.m. There is.
Looking ahead, some of the big changes we can expect to see in the year ahead include:
– Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve. AI in one form or another has been around for 60 years, but I hear that last year was the first year that AI actually appeared in our lives.
I don’t know because I’ve never intentionally used a large-scale language model, a deep neural network chatbot that is currently used by 200 million people every week.
Perhaps that’s why when I hear colleagues at work say things like “I used AI to generate a promotional theme” or “I had AI give me feedback on a piece of work I wrote,” Maybe that’s why it’s shocking.
I know it’s becoming more and more a part of our lives, and I’m advised to come to terms with it, but I don’t want to dig a grave for the old ways and the old talents. I don’t want to be on that team. I want to continue using my head and heart as much as possible.
– All computing requires energy. Google’s data centers alone use more electricity than the entire city of San Francisco. Next year, much of that energy will come from nuclear power, or nuclear fission. Because nuclear power does not release carbon into the atmosphere.
If successful, it will also accelerate the development of nuclear fusion. Nuclear fusion has been successfully demonstrated twice in the last year to release more energy than it takes in.
– Ozempic and other drugs used to improve blood sugar levels in adults with type II diabetes are now and will continue to be prescribed for weight loss throughout the next year.
Judging by the amazing changes I’ve seen, they seem to be very effective for their purpose, but I’ve read reports in recent weeks about possible harmful effects. This is reminiscent of the tainted history of later fad weight loss drugs. It leads to various diseases and disorders.
I’ve never known anyone who is truly health and wellness conscious and committed to these things, but maybe this time it will be different. Maybe it’s actually an advance like penicillin or the polio vaccine.
– This year, subscription and streaming services will continue to change the way we watch TV and get entertainment.
– We hope that the knowledge gained from amazing brain research, including ultrasound and other diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, will be more broadly applied to the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Yes, many things are changing rapidly, but that doesn’t always mean progress. Some believe that innovation is the key to progress and a sign of progress. I also measure it by the demonstration and progress of wisdom, intelligence, and character.
Innovative tools are useless if they are used by fools and crooks, and widespread functionality is useless if myopia prevails.
The world may look very different in some ways, judging by gadgets and machines, but in terms of the problems we face, things haven’t changed that much.
Decades later, it occurred to me that if I lived each day as if it were truly my last, I would end up not doing many of the things I “normally” do during this time. I found myself in a small quandary. A day’s flow including…
The surprise I have mentioned comes from the fact that this simple, casual contact with the name Schoolboy Row could have such a strong spontaneous influence on my mind.
