Ch...Ch...Changes!

     When I was born in 1963 (Yes I am that old) computers were insanely large creations that filled entire rooms. Manned space flight was only 2 years old and the first manned flight to the moon was still year away. Diseases like Cancer and Diabetes (Unless you were one of the very lucky ones) was essentially a death sentence. Communication was done through corded rotary dial telephones, radios or leaning out your front door to yell at your neighbor. (Not an option in my case since our nearest neighbor was miles away.) In short, things were damned primitive, but we didn't know any better so we liked it.
     Now, I sit at my laptop computer (Old and clunky by most standards but still light years ahead of anything even imagined in 1963) sipping coffee out of my Star Trek mug while listening to music on my MP3 player and pondering how quickly things have changed. Anyone who has family that has lived for more than say 60 years has probably heard stories of “how things were different when I was kid...” but have any of you pondered just how rapidly things have changed. Technology has reached the point now where people who are much younger can look back and say the same durned thing. If it doesn't boggle your mind, nothing will.
     The first hand held Cellular phone was introduced in 1973. It was extremely heavy and bulky but was something that had been considered Science Fiction before that point. It dialed and received (Most of the time) phone calls from just about anywhere but that is all it did. Now fast forward to today. Much as I hate to give Apple a plug, this phone is as far beyond the first one as you can get. You can get emails, surf the Interwebz, play music and even watch your favorite movies all while texting to your friends while driving your electric car.
     So in this case, in less than 40 years we went from something amazing to something astounding and the next generation of smart phones/products promises to make this generation look like the stone age.
     In the 1960s, if you wanted to read a book you picked up a battered, dog eared copy of your favorite book and sat down in your favorite chair to read. In 1992 Sony introduced the world to the Data Discman. This amazing device let people read one book from a compact disk. The screen was tiny, the resolution was not great and you could only get a limited number of books and they came one per disc. Now fast forward a mere 20 years.
     20 years this time gets your the Kindle Fire (Unabashed plug, my wife loves it). Not only can the Fire store 10s of thousands of books in its tiny little body, it can access the Interwebz, play movies and television shows and do dozens of other things that boggle my old analogue mind. To me, it and the others like it are a perfect example of “Insert magic happens here” cause I have no idea how they work.
     I could ramble on and on using dozens of other examples (Netbooks and Pads anybody? How about the digital watch on my wrist that keeps track of my heart rate, calories burned and how long I have exercised?) but I think you can get the drift of my musings. (Or not, I tend to ramble) Technology has advanced an incredible distance in an impossibly short period of time and Gods only know where it will go from here and how it will change our lives. What other examples can you guys think of and what things do you see happening in the near future?