It seems in this day and time we cannot avoid the news regardless. It is on the television, radio, cell phones, everywhere.
Just this morning I was trying to look up a recipe on my phone and an article popped up about a poll asking people the top 20 things that were once only for the rich but not anymore. My first thought was about the article I once came upon that explained how the average middle-class person in this day and age lives better than a king in the 16th century.
The number one thing people reported was cosmetic surgeries. It seems once upon a time only the very rich were able to get all the fixings that held off the aging process and enhanced certain parts of the body.
Another was the "Smart Houses" of the 90's. Clay and I were not wealthy enough back in those days to have a clue what this was, but 30 years later, what cost thousands of dollars now takes only a few bucks and just the right ap from your phone to control lights, cameras, temperature, and so on. I remember being amazed as a kid that a couple of the homes I knew of had a speaker system for upstairs.
Just a few decades ago, people were still using their hand to roll down windows in their automobiles and punching in set dials on the radio picked up by an antenna. Now very affordable cars and trucks have hands free navigation, phones, lane departure, and parallel parking.
And remember that huge television set that filled up the corner of the living room in the wealthier homes? Some even came with a remote control and stereo speakers. Now you can't even unload an entertainment center once used to house these. And the 20' flat screen televisions can be purchased cheaper than the refrigerator that has the television screen on it showing you who is at the front door.
3D printers are not uncommon for people to have now, but they are expected to become a lot more sophisticated in the coming years. And solar panels and batteries that store the energy to power a house are being bought by the middle class in droves. Many of the people in our stormy regions have built-in generators which were once a luxury for hospitals and shelters.
At this point in the survey article, I was beginning to feel like one of the Jetsons who had many of these things, and then I became lost as people talked about VR headsets, peptides, stem cells, self-hosted clouds, and AI and VR becoming mainstream. I am about as interested in these unknown things as I am having a smart house that might be smarter than me.
And then one person wrote in wanting access to premium healthcare, better education, excellent nutrition, and unique travel. Also, freedom. Freedom to spend time however one sees fit without income or lifestyle being meaningfully impacted. Yes, this would be nice. Even the Jetsons did not have such a luxury.
