It was probably 1967 when I took a class called Engineering in Society at Wichita State. I'll never forget Dr. Andrew Craig showing us a film about some of the technological advances scientists were predicting in the not-too-distant future.
Food could be cooked in a few minutes. Robots would be used for everything from household chores to operating on a human, and space travel would someday allow private citizens to see Earth from a spaceship. There would be self-driving cars, and on and on it went.
A student said, "All that is going to be so great. Doctor Craig said, "Be careful what you wish for, technology can cause problems.” True that. Look at the scams on the internet or the lack of face-to-face communication these days, both a result of technology.
Speaking of communication, a family of five is having dinner in a restaurant, and they are all on their phones instead of interacting with each other. We shake our heads and discuss, and the next minute we're the ones texting our friend to find out why they're late.
Cell phones: the darn things are convenient and now seem a necessity. Young people who learned to use a mouse when they were three or younger aren't intimidated with technology. My young techie friend gave his dad an Apple Watch and explained all the things it could do. When his dad said, "Wow, just like Dick Tracy had, my friend said, "Who?” See there, young techies don't know everything.
