Time Will Tell

A 3D-Printed Bus Shelter Just Went Into Service In China

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This 3-D printing deal is getting pretty wild. 3-D printed bones? 3-D printed human organs? 3-D printed homes/shelters? There is a lot of impressive science happening all around us – and in so many fields. This is legitimate “shock and awe.”

I come from a childhood that started in the late 1940’s (1948). The early 1950’s are still very strongly imprinted in my brain (even a little bit of the 40’s). The 1950’s were truly the golden era of my country.

As a child, I vividly remember sitting in front of a large-sized, radio piece of furniture. The appliance was finely crafted out of mahogany. It had a hinged door on it covering the radio controls. The piece was built to look good and it was built to last. No laminates. No apologies for its grotesque size. No planned obsolescence. As well, our ‘radio set’ had an old-school record player in it (45’s/78’s ?). It was a multi-featured, modern marvel. Would mankind achieve such brilliance ever again?

I was enchanted and enraptured by listening to that old radio. As best as I can remember… The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, and other radio programs could entertain me for hours.

Radio was still the primary entertainment source back in the early 1950’s. Until about 1952 or thereabouts, there was still no television – at least not in most parts of Texas.

There was this green, eye-like, vidicon tube. It was the visual centerpiece of the radio. The green vidicon tube would (in pie-chart type fashion) display varying pie-chart segments of green – in cyclop’ unison with the changing audio. I would sit and stare intently at that pulsing, green vidicon tube, listening to my favorite radio programs play. To this day, I’m still an audio kinda’ guy – not a video guy.

Point being, I have seen so much change in my lifetime that it’s amazing. I remember my grandpa saying the very same thing though. Born in the early 1890’s, he was there to observe the horse and buggy being replaced by the “horseless carriage.” He experienced the wide-spread implementation of electricity. And wonder of all wonders => the mainstream advent of plumbing and indoor toilets! My grandpa observed as man took to the air and eventually landed on the moon. And obviously, so many other incredible things too. I am remiss.

Well, now being in my later years, I kinda’ feel the same way as my grandpa must have. Granted, along with the bad stuff, I have seen so much incredible technology and innovation take place in my lifetime. I find that it’s just amazing (I am 71 years young). I have witnessed the advent of: the jet engine… television… Space travel (we landed on the moon)… the calculator (hey, I still remember using a slide rule)… the personal computer (unbelievable at the time)… and very significantly, the global implementation of what we now call the internet. And now we have the ubiquitous iPhone – a wonder of modern technology. The iPhone has transformed our lives. But I have left so much else out. I understand that.

Assuming that the planet survives (an outrageous and gaudy thought), I wonder what advances will occur in the next couple of generations? Should be very interesting as they say… though: “only time will tell.”