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More progress 1918 to 1970? Or 1970 to today?
- Thread starter dbostedo
- Start date
Thread Starter
TS
I was thinking more in terms of technology/lifestyle, personally. Like is the invention or proliferation of radio, TV, air travel etc through 1970 a bigger deal than the changes in computing, internet, media since then.
1918 to 1970 Progression
1970 to 2022 Regression. It just looks like progress.
1970 to 2022 Regression. It just looks like progress.
I would take the question in relation to skiing technology. I think way more progress in the later era vs. up until 1970.
Not to say there wasn't decent progress. Metal edges, plastic bases, new materials were coming into play, like fiberglass and better resins. Boot technology was shifting into plastics and better liner materials. Bindings were getting safer, easier to get in/out of, and the whole combination was making it easier to crank decent turns. But the last 30 years for ski technology have been superlative.
Not to say there wasn't decent progress. Metal edges, plastic bases, new materials were coming into play, like fiberglass and better resins. Boot technology was shifting into plastics and better liner materials. Bindings were getting safer, easier to get in/out of, and the whole combination was making it easier to crank decent turns. But the last 30 years for ski technology have been superlative.
No contest. First Disco, and downhill ever since.
I think it's a math thing.. 2022 - 1970 = 52 years.. 1970 - 52 = 1918
Internet is great and all..but I don't think it's worked out quite like people had predicted it would... Meanwhile, antibiotics, vaccines, nuclear power.. Machine Gun Kelly > Wes Montgomery?? Doubtful...
1918 to 1970 and 1970 to 2022 are two equal periods of time, 52 years apiece. It's kind of arbitrary but quite revealing.
Many of us remember 1970 quite vividly as we were teenagers or young adults. Looking back from 2022 the 70s doesn't seem that long ago whereas even in 1970, 1918 always felt like some distant prehistoric age.
BW vs Colour for me..
Thread Starter
TS
I wonder if thoughts would be split by age, or correlated to age in some way. I was born in 1976.
If you're talking social progress -- the adoption of civilized views of "alien" ideas and people into society -- no question: 1970 to now. While some recent events mights suggest otherwise, if you take in the big picture, society is much more tolerant and progressive over the last 50 years. Think about how our culture viewed and treated minorities, women, LGBT people, etc. prior to 1970. I'm not suggesting all is well today...but we've come a long way from the world in which I grew up.
In terms of technological progress, I'd argue the same. My father was born right about the time the airplane was "invented". But most of the technological advances of the early/mid 20th century were simply realizations of previously conceived ideas. Cell phones? The internet? Absolutely unimaginable prior to their development.
In terms of technological progress, I'd argue the same. My father was born right about the time the airplane was "invented". But most of the technological advances of the early/mid 20th century were simply realizations of previously conceived ideas. Cell phones? The internet? Absolutely unimaginable prior to their development.
Definitely 1918 to 1970: J-bar 1934, T-bar 1935, chair lift 1936
Thread Starter
TS
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I'm a child of the 70s/80s but I guess I'd argue that a lot of the heavy lifting had been done by 1970. In Europe we'd had 25 years of peace ( appreciate involvement in Korea and Vietnam might colour a US perspective). Jet aircraft were established, microchips had been invented. We had " modern" medicine and women's movements and in at least part of the UK homsexuality had been decriminalised.
A lot of the progress was done in the 60s of course.
Obviously the cellphone and particularly the smartphone has reshaped the world and Gen Z will ultimately end up with a very different world from one the Xers and Yers/ millenials are just starting to inherit from the Boomers. But , perhaps more than ever I'm conscious of the way levers like patriotism are manipulated to give us a lesser world.
In 1918 most of the world didn't have electricity or proper sewage so cell phones are a bit ambitious.
From a skiing point of view: Prior to 1918 not many people at all skied recreationally, save for a few of the affluent in the Alps, and some ragtag working class ski jumpers ala Telemark, Norway. By 1970 many middle class folks were driving ( or ski train) to lift served ski resorts both big and small to recreate. Plastic boots, laminated skis with metal edges, polyethylene bases, and releasable bindings were there by 1970. That's pretty much the model we're still in. Any advancement since has just been a turn of the crank.
I think of my grandfather, growing up on a farm in Yorkshire with a horse and cart , working the last sailing ship in the merchant marine, and all the changes he saw in his lifetime, radio , TV, man on the moon, computers etc. and think of my life. Are there any really new and different things or just refinements? Cars are sleeker and more advanced, but they're still cars, computers are smaller and faster, but they're still computers