Forum Game A Positive Thread about Technology

What is a technological advancement that's happened in your lifetime that has been the biggest positive to you personally (not worrying about how much of a positive it is as a whole)?

For me, it's print on demand, including e-books and 3D printing. That shit is just so fucking rad. My girlfriend has a book out that's sold 2500+ copies, and the traditional publishing routes would never have said yes to her book. Last night she read an e-mail she got from a fan that the book has changed the fan's life. Without this democratizing technology, that couldn't have happened. I have so many other examples from my life, but I'll keep this short.

It boggles my mind.

 

Probably GPS.

 

I dunno if it's the biggest positive, but I'd say the internet, in general, becoming what it is. I know there were plenty of people older than me that were in on the forefront of it, on random sites unrecognizable to us today, well before. Am 44 years old, and getting online on AOL became mainstream while I was in high school. I can't imagine how I would have navigated moving across the country to Portland at 21 without the internet. Can't imagine how I'd be able to stay in touch with family as easily. Simple things like information updates, especially sports. I didn't have cable growing up until I was like 18. I remember listening to the damn AM radio to get sports score updates. It sucked! Now if I wanna know if my team won or lost, it's a quick pullup of a website to see. And oh, I can also talk to fans of that team who aren't people I know.

I know that a lot about it has changed, and I see a lot of negatives in a lot of what it has become, but I can't imagine life without it. Buying a new house? Don't have to go in to an office, and have them print me out 35 pages of listings, I can just scan zillow and tell my agent I wanna go see something. Same with buying just about anything. Imagine having to go to a travel agent any time you wanna fly somewhere?

 

GPS because I have absolutely no sense of direction
Measles vaccine so no one has to get as sick as I did, unless they listen to morons instead of doctors
Contact lenses so I can see
Laparoscopic surgery, surgeries that used to require major painful incision and long recovery now need small incision and back at work in a day.
Color TV

 

Heart procedures that saved my life a decade ago..and heart meds to manage my condition. Amazing what they can do these days with tiny cameras and the ability to freeze nerve synapsis inside of your heart. Also had mesh inguinal hernia surgery a dozen years ago and that was pretty amazing to go through. As to my life...the internet and access it gives me to content and family overseas, etc...it's the biggest achievement probably for most people. I've watched concerts on line that I bought tickets for and attended in 1972 for example...Zeppelin at the San Diego Sports arena...Chicago with Terry Kath at the Balboa Stadium..in 1971..and on....it's a time capsule.

 

Digital photography/camera phones……. Just the amount of memories you can save and always have is very important to me. I have more pics/videos of my kids from these past two weeks alone (AND THEY BOTH LIVE OUT OF STATE)…..than my parents have of me over my whole life.

 

S2 and @SlyPokerDog if he is indeed real.

 

How many times did you start a convo on AOL with A/S/L?

 

Met my wife on AIM. Before dating sites were a thing.

 

Met mine on a dating site. When there was still a stigma about them (15ish years ago)

 

My cousin met his husband on gay.com. Married in 2008. Still wildly in love. ❤️❤️❤️

 

I had a crazy weekend in Tulsa in the summer of 2017 thanks to FarmersOnly.com

 

Microfracture Surgery

 

To me personally is easy to answer but not as significant as some of the most positive overall.

I think the modern smart phone compared to what some of us knew before is … insane. Everybody brings up the old Nokia brick phones, but even in the year 2002 the cellphones were nothing compared to what they are like today. These things are more efficient than my desktop computer as a kid which ran on Windows ME.

Not me personally: Cochlear implants… We can help deaf people hear. It’s also a form of Brain Machine interfacing in where it is a sort of pairing of technology and the mind. This is a field which I personally believe will only continue to develop. Forget things like Neuralink, Neuralink is nothing but an advertisement for the fact that people in this world are dedicating their lives and their studies to understanding how we can use technology for our benefit. I do believe that one day we will actually be able to use BMI technology to get rid of ailments such as Dementia. It’s also really a whole entire philosophical conversation which is fascinating to me.

Edit: I didn’t even know when Cochlear implants were actually invented. Before my time but still valid as one of the most remarkable forms of technology to me.

 

Today I had a 2 hour conversation with my ‘brother from another’ which lives in Taiwan. First time I’ve sat and had so long a conversation with him in a while. Doing so wouldn’t have been so easy 20 years ago. I didn’t even have to pay long distance calling fees… And I remember back when you had to make funny voices when calling your mom collect on a pay phone…

“Collect call from ‘Ayo I’m at —, can you come
pick me up?’”

 

Just wait until you get cataracts and need new lens implants. I went from being unable to clearly read the big E on the eye chart, without my glasses, to 20-20 vision with no glasses, not to mention having nice clear lenses instead of ones that would have grown increasingly foggy and eventually robbed me of my eyesight. I'd say that bit of technology is amazing.

 

And let us not forget that wonderful bit of medical technology, ENDOSCOPY!! Nobody likes colonoscopies, but they sure do save a heck of a lot of lives.