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November 5th, 2008
04:03 AM ET
My past...your future
During President-elect Obama's acceptance speech, he talked about Ann Nixon Cooper. A 106 year-old voter. He walked us through the many social changes she has witnessed over her lifetime.
I'm the "technology guy" for CNN Student News and I got to thinking about the changes in technology I've seen over my lifetime, a mere 41 years. I think back to the time when there were only 3 channels on the tv, ALL phones had wires attached to them, and random questions had to be answered with an encyclopedia.
I wonder what kinds of changes you will see over your lifetime. Will you think back fondly of a time when there were books made from paper? When vehicles required gasoline? When computers had keyboards?
Jeff DeHayes, Web Producer
There might be something even cooler in the future!
My past is in the past and im ready for a change with my new president Barrack Obama, he shows that America can change and will, by Obama being president it will change my future by him making new laws and taking care of our nation, this is a part of history that will make my future bad or good and I'll take one day at a time to see what will happen, whether gas goes up or down or our government will change, im just happy Obama will b making those changes for my future.
I think the future will be so much different and we will be looking back at all the things we do and us today thinking it is old school. But I also think the future will keep getting lazier and lazier.
yes i will thinkback, but at the same time, i would feel bad because some people might not have enough money to buy it
I look forward to my future, I will remember as much as I can, mostly about what was cool with music and movies. Brittany Spears, and so on. How are kids will here the songs will listen to and think the same as when we hear mom and dad listen to Elvis, Taylor Dayne, Pat Benatar, and the Beatles. I'm looking forward to new things in medicene. The cure for cancer – Better Skin Graphs. Anything really. It would be awesome if we ate freeze dried space food, or had vap in microwaves.
I think we may see almost the end of the world!!!
I don't really look towards my future. I think this econamy is in a very scary place right now, and I think it will be hard to turn around!! I think that we may see our country get out of debt. If that happens then I will belive in anything if Obama can turn that around with out raising taxes on us. I hope every one of you people realize what mistake you made on voting for Obama, and when the next eletion every one will see what kind of "CHANG" Obama will make. Make sure that all of you people be safe and watch out for what you do, because we are about to go into a hard time in life in this generation!!!
I just hope that we will savor what our lives are like now, because who knows what they will be like 10, 20, 30 years from now???
I Can't wait for Obama to start his term. He is the first black president, and change has come to america. Mccain was a gracious loser, and i was proud of him for taking on the job that he did. Obama is a hero to many, blacks, whites, hispanics, asians. He inspires hope in people. I think that he will join us together. The record turn out tells you something, people are caring who lives in the white house. THey are caring who makes all our major desicions! This is a new thing, WAY TO GO OBAMA!
I think that our future is going to be good from now on, because we have a good president now that will help our economy and other things.
In the future I'm going to see when the world is comming to an end. The reason why I think is because of global warming. That's the only thing bad that is going to happen. I'm not worreid about my future because our president Obama is going to change it for the better.
hm. well honestly I think that how far our technology has gone is all good and well except for the fact that our technology needs to be going to other things. I think that I will remember these things but hopefully they will still be there as well. I don't think that I want to live in a world that is ALL technology. I mean, I would like to be able to curl up in my bed and read a real book. I don't want to have to go sit in a chair and stare at a computer screen to look at EVERYTHING! Hopefully though, there will be eventually a technology progression that makes cars never run on fuel therefore helping our environment.
I look at my future a lot! I really think I will sometimes look back at the times when I was playing video games that required you to push buttons, and all of the other things that make up our lives now. But at the same time I will always be looking at the future first. You know, like trying to see what life will look like for me later. Maybe this economic crisis will pass over maybe not, but right now we need to look at what is happening now.
a lot of things have changed since I was younger. So far there's been 3 president's through my life. Bill clinton, George W. Bush, and Obama once he's in office. A lot has changed. George W. Bush being our president for 7 years was pretty bad. Our economy is so bad. But with Obama hopefully he will bring everything up. Maybe i will remember a good president, if Obama's going to be good. Which I think he will be. He means change, and don't we want that? we've had the same things for a long time.
I will remember how the world changes. As for technology I don't think that we can adapt any more. You see all the technology we have and wounder how much father can we go. At one point in time I thought virtual games in houses. Then the wii cam out. That cut the line I don't think we can adapt more technology wise.
I think i may look back once in a while but, not all the time. I think it will be weird because in the future most of the books will have hard covers and i heard that they were trying to invent car that run on H2O so it will be creepy. Also they are always inventing new computer systems that are faster then the one before it so i think that eventually there will be a super fast one maybe in our time maybe not in our time. There are a lot of new things that our parents,grandparents,aunts,and uncles didn't have that we do they are always inventing new things so the generations after us may have something that we never had. Like my mom has a cell phone and if she is with us and my grandpa calls she talks to him then hands it beck to one of use. Her generation never had cell phones and now we do so the generations before us don't know how to us them. The same with i-pods, or any portable music players. So i can guaranty that the generations after you will always, well all most always, be getting new things to use and you will have no clue how to use them and they will laugh and tell you" It is really easy and your stupid." So yes i plan to look back on what we had or the generations before us vs. the generations after us.
It is in human nature to advance. If it were not in our nature, we would still be living in caves and hunting for food! Wanting change, making change possible, and adapting to change is what life is about.
Would we look back fondly at the time when books were made of paper? or cars required gasoline? or computers came with keyboards? Certainly just as I look fondly at the time when I listened to the adventures of "Superman" on the radio, or the time it took weeks or months for me to receive mail from family and friends n faraway places.
Forty years ago if I had wanted to share my opinion with the readership of a newspaper, I would have typed my comments on an Underwood typewriter and posted my letter to the newspaper office. Of course by the time my comments got to the newspaper, they would have most probably been out of date and of interest to no one except myself. Today, I am typing them on a computer keyboard and after I am done, I will click on "Submit Comment" and voila, it will become an instant part of the conversation with others who have posted their comments on the topic. In the future, my computer keyboard might easily become obsolete and there will be something else in its place. That will not prevent me from remembering my "old" computer keyboard with fondness but I will welcome the new gadget, learn to use, and off I will go again.
We must be as fond of our old ways as we are of our new ways, and as we will be of our future ways. Change will come, whether we want it or not, we like it or not, we expect or not. There will be changes in communication, in transportation, in health care, in education, and in every aspect of human enterprise.
Those of us who have seen change are fortunate because we were comfortable in the past, we are comfortable in the present, and we look forward to feeling comfortable in the future.
the future is unprediable
Every human being sees change over his/her lifetime. Some see more, some see less but we all see change.
Wanting change for the better is an intrinsic part of our human nature. Otherwise we would still be happy to live in caves and hunt for food.
As long as we are on earth, human beings will continue to make changes, perhaps not always for the better but isn't it our technological prowess what sets us aparts from our nearest animal relatives?
Adapting to change is not always easy but it is essential because new technology is like a subway train. You don't have to get on board if you dont' want to but if you don't , you will be left behind, stuck at your station watching the rest of the passengers get on and move away until you are the only left at an empty and abandoned station with no train to get on.
Just like other bloggers,I also look back fondly at the past. Listening to Superman stories on the radio (before there was TV) waiting every day for the mail carrier to bring me the news (no e-mail then), typing on an Underwood typewriter (no computer keyboard or printer then); looking for a public telephone to make an emergency call (no cell phones then); and the list could go on and on.
Actually those of us who have seen major technological changes are lucky. We can appreciate the past; we enjoy the present and should welcome the future. Why not? Effecting change is only human.
i think Obama is going to make a HUGE difference in America. Ever since Obama announced he was running i have been the biggest Obama fan. Now that it is over Obama is president and his kids get a puppie.
I think it's really cool that this lady, at 106 years old, has dealed with slavery and now she lived to see a black president be elected. I couldn't imagine the pride, or joy that she feels.