I just watched the Y2K episode of Sports Night, in which Jeremy claims that the complete system failure during his Y2K test is "a metaphor for the new millenium
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I was thinking along the same lines, seeing as I'm writing this on my cell phone. Ten years ago I didn't even own a cell phone.
I would generalize a bit, and say the development of IT in general. It's not just that I can access the Internet from my phone, it's that the Internet is a different and better place than it was ten years ago.
Also, the decade hasn't been a complete disaster politically, even though the disasters tend to be front and center. The LGBTQI movement has made major advances, for one. There have also been significant defeats, but it's also clear that time is on the side of equality. It won't stop being a battle any time soon, and there will be more setbacks, but in the future this decade will be more remembered for Massachusetts than for California.
And another thing: this decade included the development of motorized unicycles. They're not quite jetpacks, but trust me when I say that they are totally awesome. Hopefully the next decade will include the commercial success of motorized unicycles, so you won't have to just take my word for it.
The LGBTQI movement has made major advances, for one.
That's the one I keep coming back to, myself. I ask myself, "When I tell my 6th graders what life was like when I was in 6th grade, when will it sound like I'm talking about history?" And the answer is, when I talk about personal computing/the internet, and when I talk about homosexuality.
(This is two decades, of course, but) when I was eleven, gay people were the folks who brought you AIDS. Now I live in a state where gay men and women can marry each other just like anyone else, and sexual orientation and gender identity are part of the anti-discrimination law. Yes, that's also the difference between living in SC and living in MA. We have a hell of a long way to go. But there has been a real shift for the good.
I just wish I could think of more things in this category.
when I was eleven, gay people were the folks who brought you AIDS
i agree that that was partly geography. it's also partly who the "you" is. there's been both progress and anti-progress. two steps forward, one step back.
I would generalize a bit, and say the development of IT in general. It's not just that I can access the Internet from my phone, it's that the Internet is a different and better place than it was ten years ago.
Also, the decade hasn't been a complete disaster politically, even though the disasters tend to be front and center. The LGBTQI movement has made major advances, for one. There have also been significant defeats, but it's also clear that time is on the side of equality. It won't stop being a battle any time soon, and there will be more setbacks, but in the future this decade will be more remembered for Massachusetts than for California.
And another thing: this decade included the development of motorized unicycles. They're not quite jetpacks, but trust me when I say that they are totally awesome. Hopefully the next decade will include the commercial success of motorized unicycles, so you won't have to just take my word for it.
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That's the one I keep coming back to, myself. I ask myself, "When I tell my 6th graders what life was like when I was in 6th grade, when will it sound like I'm talking about history?" And the answer is, when I talk about personal computing/the internet, and when I talk about homosexuality.
(This is two decades, of course, but) when I was eleven, gay people were the folks who brought you AIDS. Now I live in a state where gay men and women can marry each other just like anyone else, and sexual orientation and gender identity are part of the anti-discrimination law. Yes, that's also the difference between living in SC and living in MA. We have a hell of a long way to go. But there has been a real shift for the good.
I just wish I could think of more things in this category.
Reply
i agree that that was partly geography. it's also partly who the "you" is. there's been both progress and anti-progress. two steps forward, one step back.
Reply
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