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WHAT’S COMING?

29/12/2022 10:28:00 Chris Morgan

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Isn’t there an expression – plan for tomorrow but live for today? Definitely add it to the many resolutions that are up for review at this time of year.

The passage of the years seems to increase in pace. As another nears the end – and it’s only a number – it’s time again for the New Year’s resolution(s). But I’m not going there; and for two very simple reasons. The first is that I have no right to do so, having, for the past 50 years (add a few to that), made a number of resolutions on December 31 and forgotten them by January 1; makes for a happy new year though (lol). The second reason – and please don’t think I’m dissuading you from making your resolution(s) – is that human life is changing rapidly. It’s getting increasingly difficult to plan and prepare adequately for the years ahead. This is one time in global history when the future is easier to predict for (other) animals; especially edible ones who appear to be getting safer as the world goes increasingly vegetarian.

Do you realise how rapidly our world is changing, especially from a human habitation perspective? Take 50-year blocks. Turn back those five decades and be asking a lady if she was using the ‘internet’. She’d stride away in a huff, imagining you had referred to some glamorous veil that would increase her pulchritude (I’m not sure about that word; please check it out). I should have said beauty instead of some long word that impresses no one. There’s a new year’s resolution! And you’d get similar treatment from the same lady if you’d asked whether she had a ‘smartphone’. In December 1972 she would have understood that to be a phone that would make her hall or lounge look smarter; know, I was there. But of course, at the time, I had no idea what was coming, as I stood impatiently urging some super-stressed guy to vacate the public phone box and take the girlfriend some flowers instead.

Changed

Today, of course, you have the internet and smartphone being terms that mean something. The internet has changed our lives and, in so many respects, in a highly productive way. Anyone who has the misfortune to have read my previous articles will recall my suggestion of the internet being the best reference library in the world, and available for maximum comfort in your office or sitting room. The smartphone, itself a major tool of access to the internet, enables you to do all sorts of things but, most conspicuously, being contactable and able to contact others almost anywhere, at any time. There are of course, some equally visible drawbacks, the main one being the risk of obsession, thus dominating the lives of the holders to the exclusion of the normal natural pursuits of life. And another being the danger attached to people happily driving with a phone at the ear. At one time I couldn’t resist glaring at drivers doing that, then progressed to placing the extended thumb and small finger (the cellphone lookalike) to my right ear, while smiling sarcastically at the other driver. Would it not be utterly hilarious if my mimicry found me passing a short-sighted police officer who then apprehended me for talking on my ‘phone’.

Prediction

Look ahead 50 years and I’ll guarantee that any prediction you make today will be completely wrong. I’ll place a thousand emalangeni bet on it, in the relaxed comfort of knowing I won’t be around to pay up. All you can be sure of is the continuing substantial impact of science on human life. We already have artificial intelligence which is developing the ability to penetrate the human mind and influence thoughts and behaviour. We are seeing technology increasing its impact exponentially as each year passes. Very impressive, but rather worrying, is the amount of information (including some heavily persuasive stuff) available to clog the mind; with every device you can think of to assist the body but minimise the effort. A bit scary, but on the other hand, if it leads to the blind being to be able to see and the paraplegics able to walk, I’m excited. And don’t write those off as impossible.

Since most adults are, or will be, parents I think it wise to consider how best to prepare the youth for that world. The days of information-drowning are over. Fifty years ago teaching was increasingly switching from learning information by heart, to listening and taking notes; far more beneficial to comprehension and memory. Many experts in the theory and practice of learning argue that there ought now to be much more emphasis on the ‘three Cs’ – communication, collaboration and creativity, equipping the youth for rapid change and the hugely increased pace of life, that is already happening. Does having a smartphone enable you to pursue a more steady and productive life? No, it simply ramps up the pace; more time to squeeze more in. Happy New Year bekunene.