Lofty thoughts
I had a chance to visit the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum right before it was closed due to the federal government shutdown. Even if you aren't a technology-oriented person, it's worth a visit.
Let's skip over the full-size exhibits and tech for a bit, and just look at what happened in the 20th century.At the start of the 1900s, we have what is widely acknowledged as the first powered, heavier-than-air flight in what we now consider to be an airplane. Not two decades later, the first commercial heavier-than-air flight. Proof of concept to commercialization in under twenty years. Jump ahead to 1969 with the first men to land on the moon.
Think about that for a bit. In less than a lifetime, we went from barely flying to landing on the moon. Someone probably heard of the Wright Brothers' flight in the newspaper, then, before their last breath, got to watch live footage as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took mankind's first steps on the surface of the moon. Imagine how mind-blown that person would have been. Here were things that they never even conceived of, or thought were just plain impossible -- right in front of them, in the news, on the TV, and in person.
Walking across the Mall, I was left with a reminder of the power of imagination when focused on creating reality from dreams, rather than creating reasons not to.
Let's skip over the full-size exhibits and tech for a bit, and just look at what happened in the 20th century.At the start of the 1900s, we have what is widely acknowledged as the first powered, heavier-than-air flight in what we now consider to be an airplane. Not two decades later, the first commercial heavier-than-air flight. Proof of concept to commercialization in under twenty years. Jump ahead to 1969 with the first men to land on the moon.
Think about that for a bit. In less than a lifetime, we went from barely flying to landing on the moon. Someone probably heard of the Wright Brothers' flight in the newspaper, then, before their last breath, got to watch live footage as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took mankind's first steps on the surface of the moon. Imagine how mind-blown that person would have been. Here were things that they never even conceived of, or thought were just plain impossible -- right in front of them, in the news, on the TV, and in person.
Walking across the Mall, I was left with a reminder of the power of imagination when focused on creating reality from dreams, rather than creating reasons not to.