TECHNOLOGY : What's new, A N D how it affects individuals, and human cultures

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12,000 years ago food insecurity was a way of life. Without much "shelf-life" food, how the next meal was to be obtained was a near constant preoccupation.
Technology has transformed the issue from where can I find the next rabbit to kill, to a choice between TexMex, or Chinese.

Not newsworthy? It's context for understanding the changing role of technology.

Change has been present since the big bang. Life for humans seems easier as division of labor, $money, and invention progress.
Human life expectancy has tripled since Bronze. Biological evolution may be a minor factor, technology, modernization transforms our daily experience.
Technology provides unprecedented latitude, freedom from toil, leisure.

Not only is human culture changing, but the rate of change is increasing exponentially.

How AI is becoming a digital wingman

REUTERS illustration/John Devolle

Are we marginalizing government? For most of monetary history currency has been from government.
The cryptocurrency Bitcoin is decentralized, not relying on a Gold standard, or "full faith and credit" of government.
Will, or can cryptocurrency render the U.S. $Dollar obsolete?

And what of the risks technology imposes?

PFAS—“Forever Chemicals”—May Be the Biggest Water Problem Since Lead​

Posted on October 22, 2024
Synthetic chemicals called per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances—PFAS—have been around since the 1940s ...
— in household products we use each day and some of the food we eat and the water we drink. In fact, their prevalence is so widespread that most Americans have traces of PFAS in their blood.

What technology do you most appreciate? Smartphone?
What nascent innovation signals the wave of the future? A.I. ?



Human remains from the early Bronze Age indicate an LEB of 24. In 2019 world LEB was 73.3

LEB, can be defined in two ways.
a) Cohort LEB is the mean length of life of a birth cohort (in this case, all individuals born in a given year)
b) Period LEB is the mean length of life of a hypothetical cohort More from Wikipedia
 
80 years ago today, October 8, 1945:

First patent filed for the microwave oven

On Oct. 8, 1945, Raytheon Manufacturing Company filed a patent for what's now a staple kitchen appliance in homes around the world: the microwave oven. The appliance, invented by Raytheon employee Percy Spencer, now sits in more than 90 percent of American homes.
Published: October 03, 2024, Last Updated: May 27, 2025


Inventions can be categorized as:
- Inventions that enable us to do what could not be done without them.
- Inventions that enable us to do what could be done before, but quicker, better.

Raytheon didn't invent coffee. Raytheon reduced to about one minute the time needed to heat a cup of water for coffee.

The affect of this one invention may seem negligible. But the affect is cumulative. Consider the pie chart as an elucidating illustration.
Spending 3 minutes less time on preparing coffee each morning leaves 3 minutes more for many other things, including reading a newspaper,
or posting at CitizenVoice.us

Happy Anniversary modern conveniences
 
Robots are a little bit fabulous.
We've graduated from the Robby the Robot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robby_the_Robot
or the Lost in Space the robot https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robot_(Lost_in_Space)

We now not only have robots prowling Mars. Our robot (unoccupied) probes have reached the edge of our solar system.
And as many an able tourist, are snapping pics along the way https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn

In the previous millennium we had an image of a faithful robot without gratuitous anthropomorphic design https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R2-D2

Back-sliding from China?

260130a.JPG

The physical appearance of this Chinese robot may be well suited to school student road-crossing guard. BUT !
As a serious contribution to public safety, do we really need robots with feminine contours and sunglasses? Cars without steering wheels or pedals?
 
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