Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by ThomasQue | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

ThomasQue

To me, it feels that it's the everyday life that isn't changing much.

* I got my first computer 16 years ago

* I bought my first mobile phone 9 years ago

* I drive a car that is 18 years old

* I still shop in physical stores

Today :

* I can surf on 20 different websites at the same time as downloading a movie in 1080p

* I can search wikipedia from my phone

* I can have a car that parks itself

* I can shop for some things on the internet

But these aren't revolutions. I like what I got now and wouldn't trade it for what I had 10 years ago, but it hadn't changed my life much. They are improvements that I've come to like. I feel that with so much knowledge and some much technology a real revolution should come faster. I'm not nostalgic, I'm impatient.

View on HN

Everyday I face problems that I've never solved before. I can query a nearly complete repository of human knowledge and find solutions nearly instantly.[1]

When I'm exploring a new city I have satellite maps of the entire world tied to a searchable index of millions of places, all on a device that fits in my pocket and is more powerful than as a supercomputer was 25 years ago[2].

There's an electric c on the market that rivals gas powered vehicles from Mercedes, BMW, and Porsche in luxury, power, and price. [3]

I'm plugged into a network that can notify me in advance of an earthquake that's going to reach me.[4]

Cars that drive themselves have been approved as street legal vehicles in several states.[5]

[1] http://bit.ly/Qs14ZG

[2] http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/mark-hurd-is-still-...

[3] http://www.teslamotors.com/models

[4] http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/earthquake-twitter-use...

[5] http://www.forbes.com/sites/singularity/2012/09/06/self-driv...

There's so many to add to the list, but nothing feels like a revolution to me. Do you feel they changed your life, I mean really changed your life ?

Ansolutely! I used to carry a Thomas Brothers guide to San Diego in my car. When I got lost it would take me 5 minutes just to figure out where the hell I was. The first time I drove to LA for my college orientation I had a map of California but not one of LA, and I got lost driving back from Westwood to UCLA and ended up in the middle of bel air. Today, it's hard to even remember that frustration.

The other day I was stumbling my way through configuring a server and thinking to myself: "how the hell did anyone ever accomplish anything before Google?".

Self driving cars undoubtedly will once they become publicly available, which seems inevitable.

Here's a list of a few things I might do on an average day that I couldn't do when I was in high school.

* Call home from the grocery store to ask if we're out of Provolone.

* Check my shopping list and see that items have been added to it since I left the house.

* Find a new restaurant with good reviews and make a reservation in mere minutes.

* Take pictures that rival 35mm film and make them available to friends in minutes (with me, it's usually hours or more, but it could be minutes).

* Find my way home from a random location without asking for directions in a gas station.

* Carry weeks worth of music and years worth of reading in my pocket.

* Order a new coffee maker online and expect it the next day.

* Buy a movie online and watch it instantly.

* Get answers to random medical questions.

* Find documentation for damned near anything.

* Work from home with access to everything I would have at the office.

Yes, many of these are indeed life changing. Could I live without these things? Absolutely, but I could also live without cars, and without air conditioning, and without a lot of things that were revolutionary. Electricity, indoor plumbing, and wired telephones took decades to make their way into average people's homes. If anything, the "digital age" is permeating lives faster and more broadly than the major changes that preceded it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com