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This question probably needs a bit of explanation. When we look back on a previous civilisation, it can often be quite difficult to empathise with the people who lived during that time period. Sometimes this is because there is a huge difference in our cultures, but it is often due to the massive technological boom that started to happen a couple of hundred years ago.

The horse is no longer our main form of transport, after thousands of years of it being the only transport available to us. The percentage of our population that has to be growing/gathering food for the rest of us to survive has dropped significantly. These are two very minor examples of changes that have happened (relatively) recently.

Even more recently, we have sent people into space. We also have the internet, which allows instant communication across the globe, access to a collective pool of information and dank memes.

Considering that the rate of technological advancement is increasing at an exponential rate, are we going to be able to look back 100 years and be able to relate to anything?
This question probably needs a bit of explanation. When we look back on a previous civilisation, it can often be quite difficult to empathise with the people who lived during that time period. Sometimes this is because there is a huge difference in our cultures, but it is often due to the massive technological boom that started to happen a couple of hundred years ago. The horse is no longer our main form of transport, after thousands of years of it being the only transport available to us. The percentage of our population that has to be growing/gathering food for the rest of us to survive has dropped significantly. These are two very minor examples of changes that have happened (relatively) recently. Even more recently, we have sent people into space. We also have the internet, which allows instant communication across the globe, access to a collective pool of information and dank memes. Considering that the rate of technological advancement is increasing at an exponential rate, are we going to be able to look back 100 years and be able to relate to anything?

12 comments

[–] boujeebagels 3 points (+3|-0)

Considering that we can look back at things 20 years ago and still relate to them now, I think we will be able to. But I think, if anything, it'll just make historians much more specialized and open up new avenues in the field. I have no hesitation in thinking that in 20 years there will be historians that specialize in recording politicians and celebrities tweets and analyzing them
[–] PMYA [OP] 2 points (+2|-0)

20 years is a little different because that's within one lifetime. 100-150 years starts getting a little bit strange. 1867, for example, 150 years ago. Armies were still having cavalry charges. The telephone had not been invented. The typewriter had only just been invented in that year, and the lightbulb hadn't even happened yet.

That is only 150 years. Two lifetimes. In that time, we have figured out how to land on another planet, and kill all life on our own planet. In the year 2100, what is 10 years of technological progress going to look like?

[–] boujeebagels 2 points (+2|-0)

But it's sort of funny now, though, because even though we are rapidly advancing in technology- we're still generally communicating the same way we did 15 years ago. Telephone calls, emails, chat rooms, and texting was just starting to begin phasing in around then. Sure, the way we're doing them is much different and we now have different mediums to do them in (social media, snapchat, ect...) but even though technology is much more advanced now we're mostly just building off of things that have already existed.

Now, I do think we'll be much more advanced in 150 years - but we also have to remember that in 1960, they thought we would have flying cars and be in a Jetsons-esque society by 1999. I think we'll continue to evolve technology-wise, but I do think it'll mostly be in the sense of making pre-existing things easier to use rather than mastering new technologies all-together.
[–] PMYA [OP] 0 points (+0|-0)

I agree with this, but the things that could be created from technology that already exists are mindblowing. I predict we will create a time machine within the next 200 years, maybe the next 100, and it will be entirely made of things that already exist now.

Batteries and storage devices will be made smaller. This will allow us to make tiny drones, that can map out areas in 3D and record sound. All of this data can then be used to render a version of the world in real time, and view it. If this data is stored, we will have a complete record of everything since we started recording. We can then use VR to walk around and look at recordings of the world as it was at any point since we invented our own time machine.

One thing that we shouldn't forget though, is we're assuming that progress will continue to increase at the current rate. We have never had this level of growth before, as far as we know, but one thing we do know is progress only seems to last for so long, and it inevitably declines.
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