“Those Were the Days…”

Tonight, I talked with my grandma for about an hour. She’s 90, and she and grandfather are living alone in their ranchhouse with surprisingly little outside help. I could fill the Internet with her escapades. She grew up in San Antonio in the 20’s and 30’s and the movers and shakers of the day were family friends, and she often tells me stories of her interactions with them—the parties, the balls, the afternoon teas, the dirty politics (yes, even then!), and the effects of the depression, including the diaspora that resulted to this group of people due to their reversals in fortune.

Blackbox Lifestyle

Tech types refer to any device that is so highly complex the user can only use it and not service it as a “blackbox.” They are often simple to use but their inner workings are a complete mystery to the user. Much of our American lifestyle is highly dependent upon such blackboxes—so much so that when they malfunction, it is easier and cheaper to throw them away and buy another than to troubleshoot and repair them, even when they cost hundreds of dollars—a concept unthinkable 50 years ago, and a sin 30 years ago. Your cell phone, blu-ray player, and so on are considered disposable by many people.

Many stories in science fiction center around some advanced civilization that has stagnated and is withering away because they are completely dependent upon technology built by their ancestors, but no one remains who understands it or is able to repair it as it wears out.

It has been a concern of mine for many years that our society is moving strongly towards this kind of scenario, and I found out last week that I’m not the only one.