What's The Most Significant Advancement Of Your Lifetime?

[Gay Boy Roberto]

My second choice would be the 8-track

[Bricktop]

The personal or micro computer has changed humanity...but the thing that has had most impact is the evolution of flying. Humans can now travel to any part of the planet, almost at whim, changing perspectives, seeing wonders they did not know existed, engaging with other cultures and nationalities, and exploring space.



Computers are adept at storing and shifting information, but they cannot create it, or develop a better understanding of it. That is a human role.



I recall looking into the sky in the early 50's and watching jet aircraft scorch overhead, breaking the sound barrier (as you did in 1955), and seeing these massive, 4 prop intercontinental BEA (British Empire Airways...soon to become more famed as the first three letters of The Beatles) that today would look like light aircraft in comparison to the 767, 747, A380 and A360. What a marvel it would be to actually be in one of those amazing machines. But you needed to be important and rich. The common man still used trains and ships.



But the arrival of the 747 changed everything. Now hundreds could fly in a single aircraft, at a price that, even expensive in those days, was achievable. Now, by comparison, it is about 1/4 the cost, twice as fast, and easily accessed.



Flight in all its forms has changed humanity...for good and evil in some cases.

Wow that was a surprise. I thought you were going to say the wheel.

Its a thought. Without the wheel, there'd be no spare tyres...

[Renee]

Tyre - Acient Phoenician port city....mythical birth place of Europa. Sacked by Alexander in in 332 BC.



You remember that day?

[J0E]

I think the Birth Control pill, invented by Harvard professor Gregory Pinkus, changed the world in the last century and had great implications for this one, in which women are gradually taking over.



https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/Gregory_Pincus.jpg">



feminists and women in general should thank this man for their good fortune.



Ironically, it took a man to free them.

[Romero]

If they could synthesize insecure men like Frank, birth control would be 100% effective.

[J0E]

The man who changed the world in modern times, and shaped civikization as we know it today was Nikola Telsa.



http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1478449/images/n-NIKOLA-TESLA-628x314.jpg">



Although he did not invent the theory of alternating current, he perfected it - and it won out over the propnents of direct current of which Thomas Edison, inventor of the lightbulb, was part.

Alternating current allowed buildings to stand several stories higher, cities to be much larger, massive dams to be built



Just about every labor saving consumer product we but today can be attributed to alternating current. The massive electrical grids which the Internet depends upon, derive their power from ac. The iPhone and all these hitech gadgets are the products of Tesla's breakthroughs. And themodern electronic computer would not have been possible without alternating current. The electric car which bears his name was also the result of his work.



Tesla is perhaps the most influential scientific individual of our times. Even more so than Albert Einstein.

[RW]

If they could synthesize insecure men like Frank, birth control would be 100% effective.

Oh snap!

[J0E]

If they could synthesize insecure men like Frank, birth control would be 100% effective.

Oh snap!

Comin' from Romero that's OK, 'Real.



After all, he's a Gay Muslim y'know.

[Annie]

The smart phone! I grew up in the 70's and 80's and we always knew where the parties were and where everyone was hanging out in the bush parties.  Word of mouth flew pretty fast around a small (ish) town back then. I love the fact that my kids and I can communicate anytime. Oh and the internet, soo much more fun than just sewing a blanket or reading a book....

[Anonymous]

The successful extraction of oil and gas from vast hard-to-reach reservoirs has all but ended talk of peak oil, thanks to the rise of what many in the industry call technological oil.

[Anonymous]

... i think no matter what age you are you'll have an answer or two for this query ...



... i posted a topic on another board asking what generation you are from and got some wonderful replies, including one from a gent in his mid-80s who, among other things, divulged how he'd been around to see the birth of rock 'n' roll. such a notion is kind of bewildering in a way ...



... some big advancements in my life include computers, the internet, smartphones and flat screen TVs ...



... what would you list as big things that emerged in your own lifetime? they can be cultural or technological or whatever!



... comments?

A very interesting thread the shark hunter..

 

I would say the information age and social media.

[Frood]

I might have said something before but now I'm thinking that mind altering substances are the most significant advancement of this lifetime (or at least the acceptance of them on some level or scale).

[keeper]

The Flo Bee, Dont know why more people didnt buy it. ac_dunno