"Bringing the Future Forward Faster"

Like Forsythia, i have sent letters to my grandchildren.  I have gotten a few drawings, some with stickers, in return.  The older kids, who are not 5 and 4, are beginning to learn to read, so getting a letter will have a bit more meaning. I don’t know if it’s fun for them because it’s rare, and it seems almost magical to have someone deliver something to your house, or if they really feel that it’s more personal, as it is something tangible that was created just for them.  I don’t think they care about that, especially because they have so much stuff.

My kids have so much stuff that not only beeps at them, or plays music, but talks to them and tries to interact with them.  The two year-old sometimes seems surprised when he gets a toy with a lot of colors and he pushes the spots and nothing happens.  He thinks objects are supposed to talk.  The older ones now get totally absorbed watching their iPads.  Their parents have realized they have to limit the time they spend on those things.  Sometimes it seems as if using an iPad becomes addictive, but at other times, I’ve seen the kids get bored with just sitting there and they go do something more active, like actually play with toys.  If they’re tired they stick with the iPad.  If they are still energetic then they leave it and go.

I don’t know if the iPad is worse than TV. My parents limited my TV time. That is after we got a TV, which wasn’t until I was about six. iPads seem a bit more interactive.  My grandkids prefer it to TV.  They also watch TV programs on the iPad.  They can watch them whenever they want. There are now several new games, robots, and classes designed to teach kids, as young as six, to learn to write computer code so that they can eventually learn to design their own digital entertainment, or the next program to unfold proteins, or track galaxies, or compute algorithms that predict stock market trends, or how to build a social network.

Does all of this make the world better?  I think it does, in some ways, but obviously in other ways it clearly doesn’t matter.  The key word that is being thrown at us all the time now is “Innovation.”  Make something new, Be a creator.  The chip company, Qualcom, now has ads all over the place that read, “When will What’s Next become Now?  Why Wait?” They want to bring the “Future Forward Faster.”

They must have paid some group a lot of money for that. The future is where it’s at.  The present is already passé.

I guess I’d like to know which future we are talking about. The future with rising tides, pollution, more racial tension, and stress; or the other future of fun, equality, and health and prosperity for all. Or maybe it’s the future where the video games are more realistic and the graphics are better because they were programmed by an eight year-old girl.

I’d like to know a bit more about what’s coming before I rush to get there faster. Right now, it’s beautiful day in May, and I’m pretty happy where I am.