More progress 1918 to 1970? Or 1970 to today?

[Ogg]

128mb is a lot when you don't have anything besides computational functionality..

My father paid 6 figures for a mainframe for his typography business in the '80s. It had 0.5mb of memory. It was the size of a refrigerator and required the room it was in be kept at a temperature a few degrees above a walk in freezer.

 

[Tony S]

128mb is a lot when you don't have anything besides computational functionality..

We all know people like that.

 

[Scruffy]

Think about the medical advancements since 1970.

Yes ( esp. cancer, prosthetics, anti-viral ), but I'm not sure they rival Jonas Salk polio, and Fleming's discovery of antibiotics. As much as they are over used today, they were an instant life saver. It's easy for us living now to forget how easily life was extinguished by a simple bacterial infection in the past.

 

[fatbob]

My father paid 6 figures for a mainframe for his typography business in the '80s. It had 0.5mb of memory. It was the size of a refrigerator and required the room it was in be kept at a temperature a few degrees above a walk in freezer.

I downloaded a simple loyalty card app for my mum the other day onto her phone that was 25mb. Plus I'm constantly having to free up 60-80 gb on my Xbox to install another game.

Not sure that's progress or jsut profligacy.

 

[James]

Today’s bloated software due to cheap fast processors and memory…

Makes life possible? - Air conditioning.
So Carrier making it with a condenser in the 30’s.
Forget living in much of the west. Forget skyscrapers without it. Sitting in traffic? If road rage is bad now, imagine going back

 

[cantunamunch]

Forget living in much of the west.

Eh. Don't forget the water projects - including most of California and all of the Colorado basin.

 

[Andy Mink]

Eh. Don't forget the water projects - including most of California and all of the Colorado basin.

What water? Lake Mead is down 160' since 2000 and Owen's Lake was drained dry in the 1920s. We tricked ourselves.

 

[scott43]

What water? Lake Mead is down 160' since 2000 and Owen's Lake was drained dry in the 1920s. We tricked ourselves.

I'm watching what will happen with the great lakes area in the future...

 

[Tony S]

Today’s bloated software due to cheap fast processors and memory…

Makes life possible? - Air conditioning.
So Carrier making it with a condenser in the 30’s.
Forget living in much of the west. Forget skyscrapers without it. Sitting in traffic? If road rage is bad now, imagine going back

So interesting. I'm so sheltered here in our little cold wet corner of the country. Never had more than a little window a/c unit that was probably more trouble than it was worth. Haven't even had that in about 6 years. Yes, there are a couple weeks a year when it's yucky but otherwise no big deal. My folks never owned a car with (working) air conditioning. I didn't either until, I think, 2003.

Heat? Now that's a different thing. I need heat.

 

[Andy Mink]

Heat? Now that's a different thing. I need heat.

That's because you are sorely lacking in insulation! Now me, on the other hand, have plenty and can't stand it when it gets above about 70-75°! Lots of insulation!

 

[Tony S]

Yes ( esp. cancer, prosthetics, anti-viral ), but I'm not sure they rival Jonas Salk polio, and Fleming's discovery of antibiotics. As much as they are over used today, they were an instant life saver. It's easy for us living now to forget how easily life was extinguished by a simple bacterial infection in the past.

True.

Back then we gave up on cancer. Hell, people didn't even talk about cancer. It was considered bad form. Because it was a death sentence, and who wants to talk about that, except the poor soul who is dying?

A year ago my 22yo kid was getting chemo for Hodgkin Lymphoma. Last winter, radiation. She's doing okay; the prognosis is good. So I'm very grateful for the progress on this front in the 21st century.

All of this helps me (maybe?) get to the point I was trying to make a few pages ago about the futility of comparing eras. We kind of know what the breakthroughs of the mid 20th century mean. We have perspective on them. Meanwhile we are still too close to the events of the last 50 years to be able to comment objectively. Our kids will have to do that.

 

[chilehed]

and in many states, legal.

That's not what I'd call progress.

A lot of what passes for progress nowadays I see as madness.

 

[James]

So interesting. I'm so sheltered here in our little cold wet corner of the country. Never had more than a little window a/c unit that was probably more trouble than it was worth. Haven't even had that in about 6 years. Yes, there are a couple weeks a year when it's yucky but otherwise no big deal. My folks never owned a car with (working) air conditioning. I didn't either until, I think, 2003.

I think driving around in the vast barren reaches of the West for the first time in the 80’s brought two things up for me.
1) No wonder they blew off the nukes here. I’m sure they thought it was perfect.
2) No civilization out here without a/c.

 

[cantunamunch]

What water? Lake Mead is down 160' since 2000 and Owen's Lake was drained dry in the 1920s. We tricked ourselves.

I take it you're voting prior to 1970 just on that one issue alone

 

[François Pugh]

Access to good weed is definitely better.

FIFY

 

[mdf]

I wonder how many kilobytes (meg?) this held?

 

[Tony S]

I wonder how many kilobytes (meg?) this held?
View attachment 175312

You mean when Saint Francis wore it?

 

[Laurel Hill Crazie]