I\u2019m now an old retired guy, and that\u2019s a great \u201cgig\u201d. But I was born in the Eisenhower Administration, thirteen Presidents ago. As a youngster I watched the Mickey Mouse Club<\/em> in black and white on a big box TV with a tiny screen. In fact, the family lore is that I was named for a character on that show, part of a boy\u2019s adventure series called \u201cSpin and Marty\u201d. Thank goodness I wasn\u2019t called \u201cSpin\u201d!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a history teacher, I was always amazed with the technological change that my father\u2019s generation, the World War II \u201cGreatest Generation\u201d, went through. Dad was born near the end of the First World War. They had cars (Model T\u2019s), electric lights, airplanes (biplanes) and gas stoves. In fact, a gas stove of my parent\u2019s youth is still in use in our kitchen today, a 1929 Magic Chef eight burner, four stove, half-a-ton, cast iron \u201cbeast\u201d. It works great, and it\u2019s back in \u201cstyle\u201d. That same style stove appears both in the movie Oppenheimer <\/em>and in the Yellowstone series 1923. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But in the near-century of Dad\u2019s life \u2013 from 1918 to 2016 \u2013 technology changed so much. And Dad was a part of that. He got into television in the beginning, the early 1950\u2019s, when most homes did not have a TV. And he changed what people watched; from selling syndicated shows like Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt <\/em>and the Everglades, <\/em>to pioneering the news\/talk show with Phil Donahue, and getting way over the top with another guy named Jerry Springer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So Dad got tech, at least for most of his life. Now I\u2019m not approaching a century, in fact, I\u2019m still a few years short of three-fourths of a century. But today, on New Year\u2019s Day 2024, let\u2019s look at what the tech of those early days of 1950\u2019s and 60\u2019s television promised, and what\u2019s been delivered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dick Tracy was a cartoon and TV detective in a trench coat and fedora hat. But he had a secret weapon, a \u201cwrist radio\u201d. He didn\u2019t need a lot of bulky equipment to check into the station, he simply talked into his wrist watch, and was connected. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We can do that. Apple watches can not only talk, but they can carry messages, read your blood pressure, tell you when to drink water, and, well, run your life. I don\u2019t have one of those, but it\u2019s not because I\u2019m a Luddite. Apple watches can only be so big, and at my age reading small print isn\u2019t my favorite task. An Apple watch would require constant reading glasses. Better to leave all the messages on my phone \u2013 I can make the font big enough to read on that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And speaking of carrying computers in your pocket: every smart phone is way smarter than the computers that landed men on the moon in the 1960\u2019s. My parents\u2019 joke was that Mom was Dad\u2019s memory, especially in the last few years of her life. Well, I have my memory, right here beside me. If I don\u2019t have a picture of it, I can check it on the internet. Don\u2019t remember something, it\u2019s all out there, and within minutes I can remember what year Billy Joel wrote \u201cWe Didn\u2019t Start the Fire<\/em>\u201d and which group did the new version. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And what about the \u201creplicators\u201d of Star Trek<\/em>? We haven\u2019t got quite to that point where a kitchen, with a button, produces any desired food \u2013 but we do have microwave ovens, and we do have \u201cthree-dimensional\u201d printers. So we are working our way to being able to produce a given shape and form device on a \u201chome replicator\u201d. The problem with that is; in our society the most produced 3-D products are \u201cghost guns\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And about that food thing \u2013 today we don\u2019t have to shop for food anymore. We can sign up for a \u201cmeal service\u201d, delivered to the front door. Want \u201cfoodie\u201d food \u2013 Hello Fresh, Blue Apron, <\/em>or even Martha Stewart <\/em>will take care of all of your needs. Want groceries? Get on your phone and order them (it\u2019s a \u201cclick\u201d thing, not a \u201ctalk\u201d thing), they\u2019ll be here before day\u2019s end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And Christmas shopping has a lot more to do with the computer I\u2019m typing on, or the phone in my pocket, then getting in the car and heading to the mall. In fact, there are three malls left here in Columbus; Easton, Polaris, and Tuttle. Easton is still making it, because it made itself into a \u201cdestination\u201d, that has some stores. Polaris is trying to do the same thing, though they\u2019ve been through one bankruptcy. And Tuttle \u2013 well \u2013 I wouldn\u2019t invest any money there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And what of Eastland, Northland, Westland, or City Centre? Eastland\u2019s still there, Westland and Northland are now strip malls, and City Centre closed fifteen years ago, and is mostly new urban \u201cgreen space\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We didn\u2019t get the flying cars promised by the Jetsons. <\/em>But we didn\u2019t get the drab, lifeless ground of the Jetson\u2019s either. Maybe that\u2019s why they all were in the sky, things don\u2019t look so great for the homeless on the surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are gradually shifting to non-gasoline cars, though my twenty year-old Jeep is still running strong. And cars are doing so much more: automatic braking, parking, lane assist and, just beginning, self-driving. In another decade, I expect drivers will be the exception, rather than the rule. Soon we will all be plugging in. And the 1950\u2019s designed highway system around Columbus, Ohio is being rebuilt. Maybe a decade from now, it will be a lot easier to get around (though they\u2019ve been building the I-70\/I-71 interchange downtown longer than it took to build the Panama Canal).<\/p>\n\n\n\n My grandmother had a vacuum cleaner. We do too, but it doesn\u2019t look anything like the hose, tank and broom that Grandma Dahlman (or Mom for that matter) used. Our vacuum looks like a turtle, and does it work without supervision. It knows where to go, on what day, and even knows when to empty itself. And if something goes wrong \u2013 it sends us a message on our phone \u2013 \u201chelp!\u201d It doesn\u2019t answer to its name \u2013 Roomba \u2013 but the dogs sure know who she is. Roomba is unrelenting when it comes to cleaning, and the dogs have learned to get out of the way \u2013 or get \u201cbumped\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\nGenerations<\/h3>\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nNew Tech<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Replicators<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Cars<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Intelligent Machines<\/h3>\n\n\n\n