I’m in New York City writing this blog. I left the Central Coast of California at 6:30 a.m. local time, and stepped of the plane at LaGuardia airport at 7:30 p.m. EST. It was a long day that ended with me mumbling to myself as I tried to figure out which bank of elevators to use, “There has got to be a better way.”
Someone, actually a lot of people, did come up with a better way. That better way was the Concorde commercial jet that was capable of supersonic speeds. Unfortunately, the engineering and technological breakthroughs that made the Concorde soar for years, could only last for so long.
Check out this video from Vox.com:
This got me thinking, do we innovate for today? Or do we innovate for tomorrow? I think we’re making advancements in telematics and machine control, GPS mapping, and so on, to satisfy our situational need of the present day. To me, the question is, “How long will our current genius last?” The Smithsonian is chock full of state-of-the-art technology whose day has long passed.
You can’t stop progress. But how can we take longer strides? In other words, make the innovations last for more than a couple of decades. Should we even want technology and innovation to last longer than that?
I also find it interesting that when my granddaughter gets to be my age, she will be seeing today’s heavy equipment, packed with the most advanced digital components, in a museum.
