Quote:
Originally Posted by b0ned0me
Thirty years ago is 1981. The tech in use at the time might be a little clunky relative to what we have today, but got the job done. Radar, sonar, radio, TV, digital computers etc. had all had decades of refinement. Even GPS satellites had been in orbit for 8 years or so.
There is very little that is brand new since then, mostly it is just a matter of making it cheaper and smaller out of superior materials. That's a significant achievement in and of itself, but if you showed a 1981 electronics engineer a modern textbook I doubt they would find it much of a leap forward from a pure electronics perspective.
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For that matter, notwithstanding advancements in electronics, the world changed more in real ways that affected people from 1900 to 1950 than it did from 1950-2000. Or 2012. A lot of things have become more complex, but the actual effect on people has not been that pronounced.
Things that changed from 1900 to 1950 (in the US in particular) include:
1. Going from almost no one having electricity to almost everyone having electricity and electrical appliances at home. Including lighting.
2. No airplanes to routine air travel.
3. Very few radios to ubiquitous radios and early TV.
4. Most people have telephones in their houses.
5. Most people get indoor plumbing.
6. Most people have cars and cities are redesigned to reflect this.
7. Most people get refrigeration.
8. Antibiotics means a lot more people survive what were formerly dangerous infections.
9. There are many more examples.
As dramatic as the development of computers and of the internet has become, it still doesn't affect people as much as things like electricity, refrigeration, airplanes, and automobiles have.
(It's also interesting how little these things have changed in a functional way - someone who could drive in 1930 could drive a modern car (and operate a modern stove, refrigerator, lightswitch, etc.). Although I don't think a mechanic from 1930 could do much to repair a car from 2012 - they really have become much more complex, even though their function is about the same. (A mechanic from 1930 would probably do okay through about 1970 or so).