Technology these days

Gurgle wrote: »

But these methods have been slow incremental development over thousands of years. Knowledge of improved farming methods migrated across europe for example, but the fine details evolved to suit the crops / animals / climate of the area.

Take the plough for example. This has been around in one form or another since farming began.

The design of the plough would be handed down from blacksmith to apprentice through centuries with small changes here and there when someone had a bright idea.

But those changes wouldn't migrate unless they were exceptional. A plough which allowed a horse to plough 5% more land per hour wouldn't be enough improvement that the blacksmith in the next village over would drop his design and learn this new one.

With mass production, that 5% improvement becomes billboard material. Every plough made after would be based on it.

This.

Plus the pace of social and technological change over the last two centuries has been staggering, particularly in the 20th century. In a single lifetime someone could have seen the first newsreels of the Wright brothers flight and then a man walking on the moon. Someone could witness the first moving pictures and the birth of colour tv. That impacts on all our cultural references to technology. In the past when change was slow and steady there was simply less modern tech to either praise of berate.

That said it did happen at times. I recall reading some ancient Greek dude(whose name escapes) who was complaining bitterly about the sudden fashion for fancy sun dials. Reckoned this was a lot of bollex and we would rue the day! etc. Actually timekeeping has a later example, where people were both praising the new church clocks and berating them in equal measure(using the same arguments as the Greek dude).

The new fangled printing press also had it's share of mostly "jaysus aren't we great altogether" with fewer naysayers. Funny enough one naysayer was Leoonardo Da Vinci of all peeps. Did not trust the device one bit and you would think the concept and process would give him a raging boner. But no. Refused to have any of his stuff printed. He did do a frontispiece for a mates book, but that was as a favour(and he didn't let him forget it IIRC). It would be like a modern Leonardo refusing to go online.

I seem to recall others in the ancient world praising modern technology. Romans and Chinese etc.

Like everything it's not new, the main difference today is the sheer amount of it and the sheer amount of commentary on it.