I have posted in the past about Progress, and Technology. Each is an indicator of the other. But any Progress, or any Technology, can be traced back to an idea, to a "Dream", if you will. Someone somewhere, at some time, thought to themself, "Gee, if there was a(n) [insert anything here], it would sure make Life easier. I wonder why no one has made/invented/thought of one before." I think everyone can understand that concept. Sometimes these revelations or insights happen while we are performing mundane tasks, like scrubbing the floor on our hands and knees. How many innovations could we get from just this one task? Let's see: rubber gloves, knee pads, mops, waxless flooring, electric floor polisher/cleaners, and "skin safe" cleaning solutions all come to mind rather quickly.
Sometimes we may stumble across an idea in an actual dream, while we are asleep. Do you think the Wright Brothers ever dreamed that they could fly like birds? I know that I certainly have.
Do you think that perhaps we have progressed to a point, after which, there is no further progression? Has all technology been discovered? Before you answer, I will admit that there are still an almost infinite number of "things" to invent, books to write, and problems to solve. But except for a very few things, the basic "ingredients" are already there. Electricity, printed circuits, computers, building materials, paper, and ink, (just to mention a few) have all been a part of our daily existence. Are there truly any "new" ideas any more? I don't think there are that many. I think that we, as a society, actually go back to the "time" when the original "invention" came to be, and improve upon it. Not Develop it, just approach an old problem with a new and improved solution. I remember when a modem was limited to 14.4 Kb/s. Someone wanted to go faster, so that it would not take 4 minutes for a page to load on the internet. Old problem, same technology used in the solution, just a different combination of "ingredients". 'Still uses electricity, circuit boards, and a computer, but the parts are put together differently, and now we can communicate in the Gb/s range. Thinking we should be able to go faster is not a "new" idea.
Where am I going with this? I'm not sure, but I think I am going backward. Back in time, you might say. I had a dream the other night:
In my dream, I remember my father taking me around a room, possibly a basement, and showing me lots of things. Things from his past. Toys that he played with when he was a young child. Books that he read, or that were read to him. Clothes that he wore. Papers that he had written, or had "colored". All stages of his life were represented to me. From his early pre-schooling years, through his flight training, and beyond, his life was laid out to me. He wanted me to know of these things. Things that had shaped and steered his life, things that were important to him, and he wanted them to be as important to me. I was shown artwork, his violin and clarinet, even a car that he might have very well driven. All seemingly "ordinary" things. But they shaped his life.
One of my favorite authors is Ray Bradbury. Many years ago he wrote a short story by the name of "A Sound of Thunder". This story, in a nutshell, is about a company that offers trips back in time to give people a chance to hunt and kill a dinosaur. Prior to the adventure, a team was sent "back" to choose and follow the prey so that the hunter(s) would encounter it right at the end of its life. A floating metal walkway was there so that the hunters would not disturb anything on the ground, no matter how seemingly insignificant. During the actual hunt, one of the hunters panicked when he saw the intended prey, a Tyrannosaurus Rex. He left the path and ran blindly through the jungle. The remaining hunters tracked and killed the intended dinosaur. Shortly after the kill, a large tree fell upon the dead dinosaur, insuring that its life was ended "on schedule". After the panicked hunter had found his way back to the path, the party returned to the "present". The office looked the same, but different. Discussion with the staff indicated that a recent election had ended differently than it had before the trip, and the nation (whichever one it was) was now under a dictatorship. Upon examining the hunter's boots, they found a prehistoric butterfly squashed on the sole.
A seemingly innocent deviation of Nature, the early demise of a butterfly, had altered history.
Would my father's life have been different if he had not played the clarinet, or colored a particular picture? I can't say, for sure. How would my life have been different? Or would it have been?
I don't know what the significance of the dream was. Was he telling me that we can't go back, or that we must go back to simpler times?
My friend Randy passed away ten days ago. My father passed away ten years or so ago. My daughter Hilarie passed away eleven years ago today. If I could go back even two weeks, could I make a difference? Ten years? Twelve years? Would I make a difference? If I hadn't killed that rattlesnake up on the mountain, twenty or so years ago, would they still be here? No, I don't think so. The dinosaur was destined to die either way. The Bradbury story was a good one, even thought-provoking. But it was still just a story.
I do remember waking up after the dream, and I felt GOOD. . .refreshed, you might say. I was glad to "see" my Dad again. I remember just "knowing" that what he was saying to me, and what he was showing me, was important. Important not just to him, but for me too.
We can't physically go back in Time. But we can still go back to simpler times. It's how we Progress.
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