Our ancestors were a forward looking bunch. They moved when they had to and pushed on when they wanted to. Along the way, they developed the technology that just not made the journey easier but also possible. Now, we are our ancestors; those words should not surprise you and, the verbiage is not misplaced or misused. In our modern world, we are doing what our ancestors had done but, maybe we have slowed down.
Our ancestors would be damned proud of us, especially proud about our journeys to the moon and back. In the field of communication, they would be envious. However, I believe they would be shocked that we have not, even in a small way, colonized the moon. Also, they might wonder why we have no real presence in space. If we pointed to the International Space Station, they might think that that effort is puny, based on our technological achievements. Our ancestors would be concerned that our forward progress has slowed down. Given a further view of us in our modern age, they would see a major chunk of our society addicted to technology.
But, they would not tell us to throw away the technology and live in ways that they had lived; far from it. That would be like, for them, going back to copper implements after knowing the value of iron and steel. Our ancestors would point out to us the reasons for the addiction. One of them, I am sure, would be how we have become socially inept because of the our insatiable need to be so "connected." Then, we could expect a healthy lecture about us being the master and the technology being the slave. And, I can imagine only one scenario where our ancestors would destroy a piece of technology: during a family meal or any other special gathering when someone's smart phone goes off and that person is foolish enough to answer it. Wham!
Seriously, in a real sense, we need to put down the phone and drive on.
Copyright @2013 Terry Unger
