WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE!

“Suppose that every memory, written word, and piece of technology on earth was destroyed all at one, leaving humanity to start completely from scratch. Everything we have come to know about science would eventually be discovered again. Given a few thousand years, people would figure out chemistry, and rediscover all of the same elements we know about now. People would once again understand biology, including its evolutionary origins. People would eventually see the motions of other galaxies in the sky and work out the details of the big bang. This is the glorious part about science, it can, and would all be replicated. I can assure you, however, that your story about a talking snake would be gone forever”. –Unknown

What a time to be alive!

The first iPhone was launched around mid-2007.

The first light bulb was invented in 1879.

The first credit card was launched in 1950.

Sometime between 1946 and 1950, the research staff of RCA Laboratories invented the world's first electronic, color television system.

Arguably, the first fast food restaurants originated in the United States with White Castle in 1921.

It is estimated that the world population reached one billion for the first time in 1804. It was another 123 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to reach three billion, in 1960. Four billion in 1974, five billion in 1987, six billion in 1999 and, according to the United Nations, 8 billion in November 2022.

?So since 1804 (a little over 200 years) we have multiplied the population by 8.

Over eight billion people just like you and me. We are all the same… but different, but still the same.

?A few years back an article was published about a man who had traveled all over the world. He stated that at the end of the day we are all looking for the same thing; to be admired, loved, respected… to belong. I guess that’s the meaning of life… to feel genuinely loved for who you are, specially loved by yourself, because this would mean you are living a happy life.

It’s amazing what we have accomplished. We have to give thanks to those great minds who have managed to stand out throughout history to make the world a better, different place.

Everything that has ever happened, from the first human (no matter if you are religious or not) has led up to this point in time when you have the advantage to listen to this in an audio format, or hopefully see these notes in a video. Everything has led up to this point.

Do you know how much you can enjoy talking to older folks? Nostalgia is a very powerful tool in marketing and life. Talking to someone who is older than you can stir your imagination into the wonders of the past. The creativity of imagining how things functioned when most of the modern inventions and everyday tools we use where not around seems amazing to me. Not because I wanted to live in those times: you could die of a common cold. But because it’s just incredible to see how we have come up with improvements to the way we do things now.

Imagine a world without running water, without air conditioning, without FaceTime. Now imagine you have lived to see all of that become as common as Wi-Fi.

?As a child, in the 1980s, my family and I visited the northern part of my home country, a pristine jungle. Our house was lit by petrol lamps. Once in a while our dad turned on the generator for us. That was movie night. I swear we saw The Man From Snowy River around a million times.

To make a call, we had to ride in a car for about an hour, partly on dirt roads, to the town, where we used phone booths located exclusively in the offices of the telephone company.

Now, that same house in the jungle has electricity, air conditioning, Wi-Fi, great cell phone reception and very cold beer.

?The lake next to the house was quiet, full of fish and crocs, and I saw the most memorable night skies there. It was a simpler time. And that was only 30 years ago.

I′m at the point in my life where I can tell a kid about how I still saw some working record players (now they are very cool again), I saw the Walkman and CDs became popular, then MiniDiscs, then MP3 formats, then MP3 players, and now streaming.

We used to play outside; we used board games as much as kids use mobile games. Batteries where our currency.

Most of us have been alive during a time where the most advanced and rapid changes have been taking place in the world. Let’s appreciate this; it makes us imaginative.

Thinking about the past makes you imagine the future. What the next Tic Toc is going to be? What will AI make of humans? When are we going to get to Mars? When are we going to have teleportation or be capable to travel through time? Is this even possible?

We live in a great time, where instant satisfaction is one click away.

Amazon, medicine, fast food, music, dates, investments, information. All one click away.

Personal favorite: the spray to open up my congested nasal passages, it takes only seconds. S-E-C-O-N-D-S.

With all the knowledge we have accumulated through thousands of years (but mostly the last 200) we understand, with facts, how most things work.

What a time to feel alive...

As a borderline millennial it still amazes me to be able to see my family through a high definition 5-inch screen while being thousands of kilometers away.

It still amazes me how medicine has advanced; nanotechnology will soon be running through our veins, cleaning up clogged arteries and fighting diseases. Stem cell research has already begun to save lives.

Our life expectancy is almost twice as long as it was in the 1950s. From the 1500s onward, till around the year 1800, life expectancy throughout Europe hovered between 30 and 40 years of age. I would be about dying around now.

And even though we are at a time where change is the way of life, and with all of this knowledge at our fingertips, we are still greedy and selfish and loveless.

What a time to be alive?