Electricity Is Magic: A Thought Experiment (Part 2)

It isn't necessary, but reading Part 1 is recommended.

Now, undoubtedly you've had to exert a bit of mental effort in attempting to explain the sorts of technological privileges we enjoy today to a man entirely unfamiliar with, in fact superstitious of, electricity. It stretches the mind to describe the invisible mediums of information that "float through the air" and are organized into incredibly detailed moving images, rapidly displaying the complex psycho-social systems that are trivial for us to comprehend... then looking the man in the eye and saying, "I see and understand this everyday."

Maybe you've thought about how visually striking the change would be. What you read, wear, drive, and eat? Travel decades into the mid 20th century, at the advent of television. Watch these commercials, and see how they change over time...







If you were 10 years old during the 1960's, what would you think if the Cap'n Crunch commercial from 2002 just happened to be broadcast on your television one morning? For only 30 seconds, a brief glimpse of the future. It would be the most stimulating entertainment experience of your life.

At last, the final twist of perspective:

Consider two forms of the exponential evolution of technology:

For more than a hundred thousand years, the blunt object was man's weapons of choice. For a hundred thousands years. For thousands afterward, man dawned the spear, bow, and onto all manner of steel weaponry. Then for a few hundred more, man crafted the bullet. Within decades, man mastered the explosion... capable of destroying the Earth.

For more than a hundred thousand years, man was forced to travel by foot, from valley to valley. For millennium, the beast was the prime method of transportation. Then for a few hundred years, gasoline, oil, and steam powered our machines. Then the skies were opened anew, man capable of traversing the globe at supersonic speeds. Then within decades, the final frontier is realized, and our satellites escape the solar system.


Imagine yourself as the 19th century man, transported to the future, and every sensation and thought that overcomes you. All the questions and every detailed answer. Using your 21st century knowledge, capture this state of mind and now shift roles.

You are the 21st century man, now transported to the 23rd century.

You're likely to land on an orbiting space-habitat, somewhere in the galaxy.