I'm the luckiest bastard alive.. and chances are, if you're my age - so are you

I'm 36 years old, and, technololgically speaking, I've seen a lot...

Back in 1987, Star Trek (the next generation launched), and boy, what a future to behold.   Sure, there's no cure for baldness yet - and Frenchmen can successfully command on military vessels - but look at that computer he has.

   

Fast forward to 2010, and this smug looking bugger has one too.  Granted, it doesn't control phaser banks or warp drives, but it can access the internet and store quite a few GB of data on it.

Technology is advancing at a frantic pace - and it's fucking awesome.

My first computer was a 48kb ZX Spectrum.  It had a monster 48kb of memory. Programs were loaded from a tape recorder. To put that in perspective - if you open a new word document, type in the letter "a" - and then press save - you will get a 10kb document.

The iPhone 3GS has 16GB of storage, and 256mb of memory, and I carry it in my pocket.

 

The Spectrum had a 3mhz processor.  Today, my phone has an 800Mhz processor (though it's underclocked to around 600mhz).

Let's not even talk about the internet.  In 2000 or thereabouts, while my business and the rest of the .Com companies were crashing, we could achieve a massive 9600bps connection, or GPRS if we were lucky.

Again - my iPhone supports Wifi - ridiculously fast;  and 3G... acceptably fast.  My old Spectrum supported cassettes, and I had to walk to the petrol station to get games for $2.

Where's it going?

Well, who the hell knows?   Notwithstanding any advances in medical technology, which is also racing along I'd say I'm about half way through my useful life.   If we've seen this much during the last 20 years or so - what will I still get to see during the next 40 years ?     And, if medical advances continue apace - what will I see during the next 400 ?