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by DrScientist
975 days ago
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Sure - new houses/cars are more efficient - the technology is constantly being improved. But a car from 40 years ago is basically the same ( in terms of how it's used ) as today, even electrification, in the end, won't change things much in terms of how people live their lives. Modern mobile phones on the other hand ( say starting around 2007 ) have transformed how people live their lives over the last decade or so - however I suspect the next decade or so will be pretty much more of the same in that regard - ie the change has happened very quickly and we are already into the slow evolutionary phase. What's interesting about the impact of mobile internet devices, is that impact isn't so visible in photographs - yet it is a profound change. Makes you think what changes we might have overlooked in the past. |
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Improvements in cars over the last forty years: anti-lock brakes and airbags are now standard. Backup cameras are now standard. Cars can be fully electric now, and there is coast-to-coast charging infrastructure.
The biggest change in my use of a car -- besides being able to charge it at home and not care about the price of gas -- comes from the team-up between cars and mobile phones.
I no longer care about directions. My friends don't need to tell me about the red barn or the corner where the big tree used to be when I want to go visit them. I don't need to call AAA and request a map with directions to the antique mall in Binghamton. I don't need to backtrack to try figure out why I'm now in the wrong state.
I just sit down in my car, it pairs with the phone in my pocket, and I say "directions to the Papa John's on Plank Street", and turn by turn directions pop up on the car's display. If I'm driving around somewhere, take a wrong turn and get lost, the directions I'm following will update or I can request new directions home.
Sure, it might be the cell phone that enables it, but it makes a huge difference in how I use a car versus 40 (well, 10-20) years ago.