Perhaps derailing a smidgen but last night, thinking about the economics of the world, and the advances in technology, I actually felt a bit freaked out.
For context, I am 52. My Nana had a boiler and mangle when I was in my teens, and we acquired a landline when I was 13. My separated Mum and I were living with my Nana, and I was 8 or 9 when my parents split. My Step Dad worked for House of Fraser in the warehouse, so was able to introduce us to Betamax and get me a Walkman when I was 14 - it was a brick in comparison to modern stuff, but seemed like privileged witchcraft at the time. During O levels my school got BBC computers, which my mother dismissed as a flash in the pan. Home computing was a flash in the pan. Hilarious to think she died at 76 with full silver surfer status last year.
But thinking about all this gave me a bit of a wobble. It seems that the world capitalised on advances made after and due to WW2, and then in the 80s and 90s onwards it's gone nuts.
I'm not scientifically minded but have been able to hold my own, now, maybe due to the slowing of age, I feel boggled by every advance and concept .... I can't keep up.
My relevance in this thread is to ask.... so, are we getting tech from other outside (?) Sources, or are we just becoming that damn clever as a species.
Forgive me, I'm half a bottle of Baileys down, listening to the music of my youth, having rage cleaned the kitchen due to tech fails in trying to access business lockdown support forms .... dont, just don't...... and wondering wtf is really going on with the world right now lol.
So, where does the exponential progress in the world come from really? Are we very clever monkeys, or have we had help? I'm sure I'm not the only doubting Thomas here, so if you have links to any theories, outlandish as you liken I'm open. Maybe I will write that novel after all.....