July 20, 2013
The Changing Pace of Progress
Progress...
In 1803 the population of the entire planet was a hair over a billion people. World economies were agrarian. Slavery of one form or another was practiced in all but a handful of nations. Transportation was powered by muscle or wind, though there were a few clumsy steam engines doing the sorts of work waterwheels had done for ages in more congenial locations.
One hundred years later, there were telephones, telegraphs, steamships that could cross the Atlantic with thousands of people in 5 days. Trains crisscrossed continents and industry had blossomed. Brazilians, Frenchmen and Germans had been flying experimental airships for a decade or more and on a cold December day at Kitty Hawk North Carolina, a machine that was heavier than air took flight.
Less than 66 years after that (and 44 years ago today) humans set foot on another wold.
And in the 44 years since then?....well....the youtube page that is on is littered with videos claiming that it never really happened. As the 12 who walked on the moon pass beyond the veil the possibility increases that we will once again live in an age where no living person has walked upon the moon. The solar system, a vast storehouse of resources lies untouched save for a few probes, some debris and 6 flags planted there by a people who once could accomplish things.
Perhaps our children will redeem us...we have no right to expect they'll forgive us.
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In 1803 the population of the entire planet was a hair over a billion people. World economies were agrarian. Slavery of one form or another was practiced in all but a handful of nations. Transportation was powered by muscle or wind, though there were a few clumsy steam engines doing the sorts of work waterwheels had done for ages in more congenial locations.
One hundred years later, there were telephones, telegraphs, steamships that could cross the Atlantic with thousands of people in 5 days. Trains crisscrossed continents and industry had blossomed. Brazilians, Frenchmen and Germans had been flying experimental airships for a decade or more and on a cold December day at Kitty Hawk North Carolina, a machine that was heavier than air took flight.
Less than 66 years after that (and 44 years ago today) humans set foot on another wold.
And in the 44 years since then?....well....the youtube page that is on is littered with videos claiming that it never really happened. As the 12 who walked on the moon pass beyond the veil the possibility increases that we will once again live in an age where no living person has walked upon the moon. The solar system, a vast storehouse of resources lies untouched save for a few probes, some debris and 6 flags planted there by a people who once could accomplish things.
Perhaps our children will redeem us...we have no right to expect they'll forgive us.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
12:46 PM
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