Where will we be in 2052?

My father died 42 years ago today. He did not have a lot of formal education, but he was an intelligent, well-read man, aware of current events.

But, at his death, he had never heard of the internet. Knew nothing of personal computers. Never heard of GPS. Would have been puzzled at the mention of HDTV or flat screen LCD TVs, much less a digital TV. Never saw a CD or a DVD. Never saw a cell phone. Never saw an electronic calculator. You get the idea. None of those things were a functioning reality in 1968.

He once told me the story of being at some sort of display in which a person could pick up a telephone on one side of the room and speak to another person, on another telephone, on the other side of the room. As the onlookers marveled, someone said, "Some day they will do it without the wire." Everyone laughed.

The advances in technology through his lifetime and since his death are just mind boggling. Now consider what engineers at Texas Instruments were once quoting as having said: "Every time we develop a new and better calculator, it makes it much easier to make the next improvement." With all the new tools we now have in our toolbox, what wondrous new tools lie in our future?

Want to plan a future amusement for your grandchildren? On a sheet of paper, write today's date, then make a list of all the examples of the latest technology in your daily life. Put it in a safe place to be opened at some future date. Not 42 years from now, but say, when that new baby graduates from high school.