Born in 1890, my great-grandfather had great-uncles who fought in the Civil War. He saw the invention of the automobile, the airplane, two world wars, and saw the Apollo 11 moon landing a month before he died.
I was born in the 80s, I have been trying to take stock of how much life has changed since then. Cable television? Satellite television? Cell phones to smartphones? The internet? Life hasn’t seemed to have made much progress. When we get down to it life isn’t radically different now than it was in 80s. Just hoping there is more that I’m simply not noticing
Honestly if you’re not putting the internet and the general proliferation of personal computers and then smartphones in the “truly innovative” category, then I’m not sure anything will make the cut—I’d make the argument that both are more innovative than flight which is something we can observe in nature.
I don’t see very many humans naturally flapping their arms flying around very often
There was that one guy, but I’d say it was more falling with style than flying
… and he didn’t stick the landing
After reading the comments here, I see the problem: You judge past things by what they have become, and new things by what they are. Nothing will ever be “truly innovative” by those standards.
The automobile was for a long time just a more expensive carriage. The airplane was a pass time for the ultra rich, while anyone else got by with hot air balloons if they wanted to fly. The soviets got to space first by pointing a ballistic missile upwards.
We have CRISPR and can alter the Genes of any living organism to match our needs, but oh well, it’s only used by labs right now and anyone else got by perfectly fine by selective breeding, can’t call that innovative, can we?
… The automobile was for a long time just a more expensive carriage…
100%. To add:
Automobile was actually slower than the horse for good many decades.
Medicines and medical care have improved significantly
Same could be said about everything we have though couldn’t it?
Cars, aircraft, boats… All improved significantly…
But is any of it truly innovative?
If my son was born when I was born, he wouldn’t be alive and my wife may not have survived the birth. If he was born 5-10 years ago, he’d have brain damage. Today, because we know what to look for and how to treat and prevent many pregnancy problems and early childhood problems he’s alive, healthy and thriving. There are a million innovations that are super niche, so we don’t know about them.
Yes, we’ve certainly progressed in nearly every field
But are they truly innovative or are they a natural evolution of something that already existed?
Yeah. I think it is.
I am also thankful that my children were born in this era as well
There has been significant progress in the treatment of cystic fibrosis
Still not the kind of innovation I am talking about
Well, I disagree with the premise.
But perhaps one of the more obvious physical examples are Blue and White LEDs (1992). Small gadgets used to always have red LEDs, maybe green ones, or an unlit 7 segment display, everything else was too expensive or too energy consuming for battery powered devices. And not only that, RGB Diodes also saw the end of pretty much all cathode-ray tubes.
You see kids, back in the olden days before white LEDs, the only way to get blue light was to throw high energy electron ray on a phosphor coating. So anything blue or white before the 90s was made with that technology, from car radios to TV screens.
I’d personally also keep an eye out what the cheap electric motor will do next. From “hoverboards”, civilian drones, e-scooters and the modern e-bike, it’s only a matter of time before the new use case will emerge.
I’d say the iPhone. A truly innovative, smart phone. When it first came out, I mean.
Bone conducting headphones
Peltier personal AC neck coolers. (eg Coolify2)
If you think that the internet is not revolutionary, what right do you have to claim that automobile ever was?
The first time I tried steering-assist on a car felt like a significant transition.
Even though it was a simple "stay in lane"feature, feeling the car moving the wheel took a bit of getting used to.
I know that there are lots of other replies about the Internet and phones, but I’ve always liked maps so as a specific example that’s an area that has transformed astoundingly. I have a map in my pocket that can show me anywhere in the world, give me directions, monitor traffic levels, show aerial photographs and street-level photographs of many areas of the world. I can fly around a 3D view of a city’s buildings, and even see where my family members are.
Oh, and you can buy vacuum cleaners that don’t need bags, now.
For me, the last “ah yes, the future” moment was going from “broadband” to seeing real fiber at a friend’s house that was 100x faster. Insanity at the time :)
