If I was a little kid, I would totally see digital frames as a sign of the future.

Now, I think they're kinda lame. I mean, what happens if the power goes out? All of a sudden your picture is gone... and if the digital frame breaks down, no more pic. Somehow, a normal picture frame just feels superior. AND, it's much cheaper!

Amazon came out with the kindle, which is a digital book reader. I personally can NOT imagine ever using it. It just seems painful! I'm much more into old-fashioned books, even though they are heavier and bulkier! Besides, if your friend wants to borrow a book, you give it to him or her. Can you just loan someone your digital book? I think a lot of companies prefer digital over tangible because they can limit who owns it. You can't lend your friend any of your Wii downloaded games, can you? But you certainly can lend your friend a classic NES cartridge.

About the only good thing I can think of with all these digital items, is that they don't produce any waste. No plastic is needed to be produced, so less waste and pollution for the environment. Overall though, I think in the end the consumer ends up losing. My guess is that companies will be pushing for more and more digital releases in 2009 and beyond. I don't like that direction at all. I think it ends up screwing the consumer. Anyway, these are my morning ramblings Feel free to chime in with your own ramblings about most anything.

cheers,

-avatar!

On digital vs tangible, our views of "ownership" would need to change in order for it really to be accepted and advance to any next level.  And as a society we haven't really been changing a damn thing in ANY area, even areas far more important than how we view personal belongings.

What 2009 reminds me of is that 200X was supposed to be THE FUTURE, yet our future has already come and gone and it's been nothing but more of the same.

The future of the 70s and 80s seemed so full of huge sweeping changes which would alter our entire lifestyles and existence, that we'd be in a world of squeaky-clean white surfaces with robots and galaxy hopping spaceships. 

Instead we still have muddy faces and bloody hands, and we can't even agree if our planet is doomed or not.  Our entire way of life needs a reboot, we've been BSOD'd and RRoD'd.

Yet the changes needed are such a huge leap that we can't commit to making it happen.  Comfort has killed the future, and we wish to remain the same.

We've hardly had more of the same, as the internet and cell phones were adopted quickly. I've seen video game systems (just one company) go from the NES to SNES to N64 to Gamecube to Wii. If we had lived 500 years ago, and assuming video game systems existed, then we'd have the same system for life. Things did not change quickly in the past, but they are changing rapidly right now and that change is accelerating.

  Further points (just in my short lifetime):

  1. VHS to Laserdisc to DVD to Blu-ray
  2. Cassette to CD to minidisc to mp3 (although minidisc did not survive)
  3. Corded telephones to wireless telephones to cell phones
  4. kilohertz to megahertz to gigahertz (CPU clock speeds available to anyone)
  5. Bulky, heavy TV sets to thin, light TV sets
  6. volatile RAM to non-volatile RAM (electronic RAM to magnetic RAM)
  7. kilobits to megabits to gigabits to terabits (hard drive space available to anyone)
 
  If someone living before Michael Faraday had thought to put a piece of paper above a magnet and watch iron filings reveal the field lines, then we might be further along by now. (That simple observation quickly lead him to discover electromagnetism.)

The base experience is still the same regardless of advances within each iteration of those devices.

Playing a NES or an XB360 is the same as playing Hopscotch or Hide-And-Go-Seek, since the activity itself is the same = playing a game.

The majority of our life still remains the same: most of us still have to clock in to work at a job that we hate simply because that's the only job available in that local area. 

Immigrants travel to other countries today in search of jobs the same way as hundreds of years ago.

Peddling online wares via internet or peddling TV Infomercial products isn't much different from peddlers traveling to villages by cart and wagon selling placebo "miracles cures" and remedies in a bottle to clueless country folks hundreds of years ago.

The basic human existance and struggles remain unchanged - regardless of whether you have an iPhone or nothing but the clothes on your back.

I agree with Carl, while technology has drastically changed over the last Century we're at a point now where it's just minor, honestly pointless upgrades.  Look at the change from VHS to DVD and DVD to Blu-Ray.  CDs still haven't been improved upon after 2 decades, and music purists now listen to Vinyl again.  Phones? There's so much stuff on there now that's completely useless, I tire to find one that can simply make clear calls.  What happened to virtual reality in video games?  Each generation it's the same thing with less enjoyment and better graphics.  The closest we've come innovation is the Wii, and most people realize what's the point of pretending to play tennis on a game system when you can actually be playing the real thing. 

Basically I think people believed that we would/could eventually achieve a sort of utopia on earth (some maybe still do), but the reality is we can never achieve true happiness in our current forms.  And we confuse convenience and creature comforts with progress when we are really regressing as a society.  Everything now is aimed towards appealing to people's instant gratification and desires, which only furthers the rise of a few and suffering of many.  Finding a way to satiate one's desires has become the only thing people know of fulfillment, but this is temporary, so the cylcle is inexhuastable, leaving only destruction in its path.

I STRONGLY disagree.
Example: I know people who had to be rushed to the emergency room for various medical conditions (I won't go into details). They went through surgery, recovered, and are now leading healthy lives. 10, maybe 15 years ago, if this had happened to them, they would be dead. Yes, in just a decade, we've made giant leaps in medicine. If your life is ever saved by modern medicine, surely you would not call such advances "pointless upgrades". Another example: Our understanding and ability to manipulate genes is anything but "minor", and is actually so advanced that scientists are trying to "catch-up" and understand all the implications and ramifications the current technology has.

Still another example, in physics. We now know so much about the Universe it's unbelievable! Is this because people are smarter today than ever before? Absolutely NOT! However, our technology has advanced to a point where we can gain insight into things as large as galaxy clusters, to smaller than atoms. There are TONS of other examples as well...

People as a whole haven't changed, I totally agree with that, but our technology has. Also, I think Carl's arguments are not quite true. There is a HUGE difference between traveling from village to village as a peddler and selling on the internet. I can sell something on the net and send it to nearly anywhere in the world within one or two days!! How amazing is that! Jules Verne, "Around the World in 80 Days"... Do you know why it was so thrilling, because when it was written (1873) it was deemed nearly impossible to travel such distances so quickly. Now, I can fly around the world in a few days if I wanted to...

So, I claim that our lives today are not very similar to the lives of our ancestors.

Well, as an example, today in America people go to a restaurant if they're hungry, or the supermarket, or a farmer's market... not long ago, during the Great Depression what did people do when they needed food? Well, many of them starved. Their basic existence (a mere 80 or so years ago) was vastly different than our own. I do think that basic human needs remain the same, but existence and struggles are definitely different in many ways.

cheers,

-avatar!

edit: I respect Carl's and Nemo's point of view, so I'm not trying to bash anyone, I just strongly disagree with some of the things you guys said, but disagree in a friendly way I do enjoy these arguments though, it's always interesting to hear what others have to say and I encourage you guys to respond.

My point is why?  Has this truly improved society?  For every person that was inflicted with some unforseen disaster and saved by medicine, there are 10 people that expect science to bail them out after they consciously destroy their lives (alcohol, smoking, food, etc.).  And how much of these technological advances have come at the expense of nature and the earth, as we believe making our lives "better" and "easier" gives us the right to disregard everything else, even other humans.

It's great that they are still alive, yes.  Our medical "culture" in general is basically all about Treatment AFTER a condition rather than PREVENTION though. 

A healthier lifestyle would help prevent a whole lot of things (not everything) but most people only visit doctors after a condition has gotten so bad that surgeries and drastic measures are necessary.  The majority of Americans are on so many prescription drugs it's mind boggling to me.  Yet because the american lifestyle on a whole is so unhealthy it's just to treat side-effects rather than the causes.

How is that extra knowledge of far-away objects being used?  Knowledge without action or application is pretty useless, and I haven't read or seen scientific academia solving any problems these days.  Any links to useful applications would be helpful!

Faster yes, it is quite handy to have a global marketplace. While I am a fan of many aspects of globalization which gives individuals more choices and freedoms, it can also turn the whole planet into one big suburb.  China is fast absorbing an American lifestyle, yet our lifestyle is screwed up and on the wrong track, so it'd be better if we didn't have so much of our crap manufactured there to begin with, which would lessen the influence.

Once those ships from South America and many other countries which much of our american food is SOURCED FROM, we'd be starving too. I'm guessing there's not enough Idaho Potatoes or Florida Oranges to feed everyone in America, so our food intake is plenty dependant on global sourcing just as much as our furniture and goods are.  If that global trade slows or stops, we're definitaly screwed in pretty much all aspects of life.

Thanks for your input too!

I totally agree! It's scary how many drugs (legal) Americans are on! A healthy lifestyle is definitely the way to go. In terms of personal health, a simple, healthy, diet with exercise is all that's needed not. The point I'm making is not that people as a whole have changed, but our technology has dramatically changed. Actually, some conditions can be treated before they come into play. It's amazing, but you can treat a baby for various conditions before he/she is born! Overall though, of course medicine is about treating things after they come about.

That's arguable. There are many people who claim that any new knowledge is useful, even if in the near future there are no direct applications. You should watch a great BBC show called "Connections" by the scientific historian James Burke. He shows how little discoveries that often appear mundane, many years later come together and eventually lead to great advances in science and civilization. My point is that you never know when a little new knowledge will be used to contribute to a great leap. Here's an obvious example: Do you think computers are pretty amazing? Would any of them be around if not for the contributions by Maxwell? Absolutely not! Yet, were there any applications to Maxwell's laws right after he derived them? What about Newton? The basis for all of physics is arguable Newton, and yet after Newton published his results in 1687 I can't think of any immediate application they were used for! However today, our civilization is built on our understanding of physics.

I agree, there are many problems with globilization. I'm not a fan of many aspects of it, and I agree that the American lifestyle (which is always changing, especially now during this hard hit recession) is not healthy overall. I do think this lifestyle is partly a consequence of advances in technology which make life much "easier", but more so I think it's that people choose the path of least resistance (usually). As for food, America can easily produce enough food to feed all her people and then far beyond! In fact, many farmers are paid NOT to produce more food. Reason being it would drive down the prices of grain, potatoes, etc... As for imports, the reason we now have so many imports is because people want to be able to eat their tropical fruit 365 days a year. You can definitely live off local food year-round if you wanted to (people have for many years), but again people are wiling to pay for "exotic" imports. Personally, I try to eat local as much as possible, but I'm probably an exception

cheers,

-avatar!

The main struggle of the basic human existence is to survive. If that changes, if surviving is no longer an issue, then that means we no longer exist. So, you are correct. Whether we're all naked or clothed, the main struggle remains the same. I agree.

But I don't agree that the majority of our life remains the same, nor do I agree the base experience remains the same. Consider the removal of heat (commonly known as cooling), for example. If I had to buy ice every other day, then that would really irritate me. The refrigerator, although not invented in my lifetime, and has not changed it, would certainly change it if it disappeared. With that simple example, I have demonstrated that the base experience can change.