X-Message-Number: 21037
Date: Sun, 2 Feb 2003 05:34:59 -0500
From: Thomas Donaldson <>
Subject: CryoNet #20895 - #20905

For Daniel Crevier:

I note first that your discussion of slowing progress involved develop-
ments in FUTURE technology, no look at how fast PAST and PRESENT
technology has advanced. There is another way of looking at this
problem, which assumes (sorry!) that people become most interested
in recent developments, and less interested in past developments
which may even have meant much more. And as for future developments,
the time it has taken us to develop (say) flying cars looks very
long in our view since we're living through it, but when they 
come about people will look back and marvel at how fast they 
came (only 100 years! That's SHORT). Think of how long it took
to bring steam engines to the high point they reached in the 19th
Century.

One consequence of this view is that our ideas that progress is
moving slowly or rapidly come more from how close we are to the
changes than to any objective rate of change. The invention of
eyeglasses in the Middle Ages meant a lot for many people, but 
now they are accepted as simple devices.

            Best wishes and long long life for all,

                Thomas Donaldson

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