As of approximately 0600 this morning, I've been kicking around this world for exactly 50 years. I can't say I feel greatly different from my 49 year old self of yesterday, but I suppose today is something of a milestone birthday, and a time for reflection and prognostication. If my 10 year old self, say, had had the imagination to think about today, I suspect the only thought would've been that I'd be unbelievably old, but I don't feel that way now - recent health issues notwithstanding, I still feel I've got a reasonably ' young ' outlook, somewhat irreverent and certainly not reactionary, even if I have my curmudgeonly moments, and even if my musical tastes are more ' Dad Rock ' with a light sprinkling of Radio 3 than Top 40. Thinking about it, I suppose 10 year old me might have had slightly more justification in considering 50 to be old than an equivalent child today, because of the lifestyle changes over the intervening period - far more people of that age suffered poor health in the past because of the greater prevalence of what would be, by modern standards, poverty and heavy physical work.
I guess that one of the side effects of today, at least in my case, is to reflect on what has changed and what has stayed the same over the years. I have no doubt that the greatest change is illustrated by what I'm doing now - I'm sitting typing at the computer, knowing that what I'm writing will, in a few minutes, potentially be accessible to anyone in the world with the requisite hardware, which, while that doesn't cover the whole of humanity by any means, could still be counted in billions. Computers 50 years ago were the size of tennis courts, now they're in many people's phones, cameras, even pop-up toasters! There may have been the odd science fiction writer or futurologist who could have foreseen such things, but I suspect that the vast majority of people would have found such developments literally unimaginable. As far as continuity goes, I hope I'm not being naively optimistic in saying that we're still human beings, still the same gregarious primate under the skin, who can reach out and touch others of our kind, hug, kiss and love our friends and family, and, hopefully, extend that empathy out into the wider world - to shamelessly pinch a quote from ' The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy' " How great it would be to be nice to people for a change".
Thank you very much to 'iw2fja' for following my blog - my previous comments about encouragement ( and slight preening of my ego!) are once again brought to mind.
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
Hi there, Sammy
ReplyDeleteHappy Birthday!
I hope you're having / have had a great day - helped along, I would guess, by your current freedom from the daily grind.
You're right about the development of computers: in fact, I'm not sure that there are any SF writers of fifty or forty years who foresaw the pace of change in computer miniaturisation, let alone the consequences for public access to computers or anything like the internet. Thirty years ago, there was some inkling of what was to come: I remember a BBC series called "The Mighty Micro", and I still have a copy of the spin-off book. I think it would be very interesting to compare the predictions and ideas with the reality!
For all that, as you say, we are still the same human beings, with the same virtues (and also vices, alas) as we were 50 years ago, or 500, or 5,000.
Take care
Mark
Hi Sammy - congrats on being 350 years old in dog years! Now being only 50 years old doesn't sound so bad, does it. lol
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Happy Birthday from gay Andy.
Hello Mark & Andy
ReplyDeleteThank you both very much for your kind wishes. I had a very pleasant day, nicely chilled out and some nicely chilled Spanish Cava to round things off last night!!
Love & best wishes
Sammy B